I’m so Fried-day

Crazy week this week. Today was the culmination. Here’s the rundown:

Up at 7 am to preside over a new, improved morning routine (we used to stumble out of bed at 7:30 and wonder why we couldn’t get out of the house by 8:00 am). The routine thing (I’ve posted about my difficulties with routines before) was an assignment from Big Sis’ counselor, so it’s like a prescription I’ve had to fill. It’s working well so far though.We started on Tuesday and are still going strong. The key is showering at night (I know, duh…but Big Sis, who hates showering seems to hate it a little less in the morning) and letting the kids have screen time if they complete their morning routines in a timely manner. We’ve been ready to go at about 7:40 am almost every morning.

If only I had the time and energy to pull together after-school and bedtime routines. Maybe next week.

We left the house to go to the bus stop only to be greeted by the sight and smell of hazy white smoke. None of the neighbors seemed to know where it was coming from, so since danger was not imminent, we moved on with our day.

Back in the house to wash Little Sis’ wet sheets. Of course, the washer and dryer were full, so I had to clear them out first. Then, I promised myself I’d exercise at least 15 minutes, but I was already running late to pick up Mom for her doctor’s appointment. I worked out anyway, considering it a deposit toward not having my kids drive ME to the kidney doctor when I’m Mom’s age.

By the time I’m showered, it’s 10 am. I call Mom to tell her I’m on my way. She reports that the smoke I smelled earlier was from a fire in a nearby apartment building; she saw a news report. Apparently some guy on the third floor was making eggs, and some grease caught fire. He threw water on it. Two hundred firefighters and 15 road construction crew-turned-rescuers later, the building was lost, but everyone got out safely. Also, I’ll have to wash my coat to get the smell of smoke out of it.

I picked up Mom. The intention was to go out to eat before her 11:30 am appointment (because Lord knows I have plenty to do without taking Mom out to eat afterward), but we didn’t have enough time for a sit-down restaurant. Activate Plan B: I ran into Panera and picked up bagels and coffee (organic chocolate milk for Little Sis) to hold us over until afterward. Twelve dollars later (!!), we were off.

We made it to the kidney clinic 20 minutes early. Fortunately, there’s a TV in the waiting room that Little Sis usually watches. Unfortunately, the volume no longer works (and hasn’t for two months).

It was a long wait.

Forty minutes later, we went next door to the kidney doc’s office. Mom was called back. I read 5 Disney princess books and played more rounds than I care to remember of “Can You Find A Picture of THIS in the Waiting Room Magazines?” Plus, the kidney doc complimented Little Sis’ boots.

Finally, Mom was done. A good visit; Mom was expecting the doc to start prepping her for dialysis, but her labs have looked good lately, so not yet. Whew! But now I have 3 new appointments to run Mom to: More dialysis clinic, another kidney doctor appointment, and a new rheumatologist (even though I REALLY like Mom’s old one. Don’t ask. I don’t get it either).

We let Little Sis pick the restaurant for lunch (she wanted the one with “the big chicken“). She ate spaghetti and Mom & I split a salad. By now it was 2:00 pm. I still had to stop at 2 stores, drive mom 20 minutes home, and get to the bus stop by 3:45 pm. Panic starts to set in.

Boom. Off to the pet store. Cat food, cat litter, and dog food (did I mention that we were so low on dog food this morning that the dog ate cat food for breakfast?).

Boom. Off to Sam’s Club. I had a LONG list of things WE needed from the store, but all I had time to get was Mom’s stuff. Grrrrr.

Boom. Back in the minivan to fight rush hour traffic (at 3 pm already?!?) back to Mom’s.

“You know,” said Mom, “I think YOU were the reason we’re running late today. You didn’t take a shower until after nine o’clock.”

I turned to stare at her.

“You mean after spending the entire day doing things for everybody else, I made an error in judgment spending 15 minutes on my elliptical machine this morning?!?”

I huffed, “Feel free to look for another ride next time. I guess you get what you pay for.”

I tried not to let it bug me, but obviously, it did.

Didn’t bug Mom, though. She’s hopped up on so much Lexapro that she’ll giggle like a schoolgirl at almost anything.

I dropkicked dropped Mom off, cramming the basket of her walker full of her purchases. She has a history of calling me and insisting she’s out of something and NEEDSITRIGHTNOW. Hopefully it’ll save me an emergency trip within 48 hours.

Back across town, fighting school bus traffic now. We made it and picked up Big Sis.

Now for the fun. Big Sis has her regular daily homework (which usually manages to fill up two hours on a good night), her science project (optional, been working on it for three weeks, and due Friday morning), an optional homework assignment (something about inventing a musical instrument out of household materials; she’s been harassing us to borrow pieces of my $2000 trombone and Mr. Hoagie’s flute and recorder), AND a Girl Scout Brownie meeting.

Somehow, she managed to pull it all off.

But it was a hell of a day. Capping off a hell of a week.

In comparison, tomorrow’s gonna be easy. Drop off Big Sis’ science fair project, volunteer at her school, pick up Little Sis, take my midterm exam for my online class, bake brownies for the science fair, pull a homemade meatless dinner out of my @ss, go to the science fair, and spend the rest of the night consoling Big Sis and rocking her to sleep when she doesn’t win (she has issues with competition).

Piece of cake.

I’m so fried.

Smooth sailing

Since Mom’s gotten out of the hospital about a week and a half ago, it’s been pretty smooth sailing. I took her to her follow-up doctor’s appointment on Thursday. It was about 6 degrees out, and the office was about half an hour away. Mom went in and came out about 15 minutes later.

“He said I shouldn’t have come out in this weather,” Mom reported.

“Are you KIDDING me?” I replied. We had already pushed back the appointment that morning due to a 2-hour school delay. You might think someone could’ve mentioned it THEN. I only planned my whole DAY around this appointment.

Mom used to take the bus (provided by the apartment building) to her doctors’ appointments, but after she tripped on the steps once and got a huge scrape on her shin (which became infected and put her in the hospital for two weeks), she and I became a bit gun-shy. She did try a few times after that, but she found that she had to wait about an hour to be picked up. So my arm got twisted.

It’s not so bad, though. It’s only a couple of times a month, one of which is a visit to the kidney clinic. It’s a nice routine: pick up Little Sis from school and Mom from her place, and head over to the clinic at the local hospital. Little Sis and I hang in the (empty) waiting room and watch Dora, then we all go out to lunch. Then I drop Mom at hme and have time to pick up Big Sis at the bus stop. It’s a comfortable schedule, and I know I have enough time to get everyone where they need to be without rushing.

Another comfortable routine we’ve settled into is seeing Mom on Sundays. Sometimes we have lunch at the dining room at her place, sometimes I cook dinner (either at my place or hers), or sometimes, like last night, we go out to eat. We ended up at the local Chinese place at Mom’s suggestion.

It’s great that, to some degree anyway, things have turned out the way I envisioned them. We’ve managed to enfold Mom into our lives, and I think we’re all better off for it.

It’s pneumonia.

So here’s the update. I’ll make it quick, ’cause I’m sleepy.

Saturday morning, Mom calls, saying “I think I have pneumonia.” She’s short of breath. I make a few calls, hit WebMD, and finally get to speak to the doc on call from Mom’s doctors’ office. Told him I googled her symptoms (all but one on the WebMD checklist) and it sounds like pneumonia. He agrees.

Hi, ho…hi ho. Off to the ER we go.

After I pack myself a bag. And take a quiz for my online class. And email my instructor.

Then I head to Mom’s. Get her dressed, packed, and fed. The tuna sandwich I made her was the only significant meal she’d had in two days. I wash her dishes and empty her trash, because it could be days before anyone comes back (learned that the LAST time mom went to the ER).

Several hours later, we leave the apartment. She needs to sit (on her fancy new walker that has a seat) before she gets to the end of the hallway.

Cut to the ER. We breeze through (relatively speaking), and after a chest x-ray, a doc declares it to be pneumonia.

So Mom was admitted, and she’s been there ever since. I stayed with her until about 9 pm that night. The whole family visited on Sunday afternoon, and Big Sis and I stopped by tonight for a while. Seems they’re waiting for her lungs to clear before they release her.

That’s all I got tonight. Peace out.

Lettuce is wilting.

Still feeling squished. Like a five-day old sandwich now. Wilted lettuce, top slice of bread getting moldy.

Yesterday morning I ran a few errands, one of which was taking the kids to a play at our local library.  While I was there, apparently Mom’s doctor tried to reach me. The one place in town that doesn’t have cell phone reception. When I called home, my husband told me that he had called.

“Which doctor was it?”

“Ummm…he didn’t say.”

“Did he leave a message?”

“No.”

Nice. Very helpful. I’ve been carrying this cell phone on my hip for days in case someone calls, and the one time they do, I’m out of range.

I call mom’s hospital room. No answer.

Did she code? Emergency surgery? More tests? WHAT??!??

I call my sister to see if anyone tried to reach her. No. But she offered to call the nurse’s station and find out.

She calls me back. They took her for a CAT scan. I remember that when I had talked to Chiquita earlier that morning, she’d mentioned that she had a little blood in her urine again. They must be looking for more information.

I sighed, and decided to continue with that morning’s plans. I met my family for lunch at Eat N Park. My husband took the girls home so I could head to the hospital. I called back to see if I could reach Mom or her doctor. No luck.

When I got to the hospital, Mom was in good spirits. I let her nurse know that I’d never connected with the doctor. He told me that her blood count had dropped that morning, and that the doctor had ordered a transfusion of two units of blood. While I was there, the weekend cardiologist stopped in. He said that it looked like she’d be scheduled for a heart catheterization on Monday. They suspect that one or more of her stents (she has 5) may be occluded due to being off the blood thinners for that week.

What he didn’t have to tell me, however, is that this catheterization may (probably will?) take out her kidneys. The dye that they use is tough on the kidneys, and she’s only operating at 50% at best.

Save the heart, or the kidneys?

Not much of a choice.