Sunday, March 28, 2004
The plan is...
...that we are going to Costco sometime today so Mom can take a look at the "Tandem Sport" chairs for use in our backyard. The chairs we have now, those plastic (in our case, white), molded, warehouse-home-improvement-section-store chairs, are a bit too high and not really sturdy enough for her, especially when she readjusts her ass. The chairs wiggle and I'm afraid, one of these days, one of them is going to wiggle her to the ground. The "Tandem Sport" chairs are weatherproof, very sturdy, are joined with a table between containing liquid holders (although I will not allow her to use an ashtray on this set) and is a neighborly place for anyone to sit and talk to Mom while she's supervising garden work or any kind of yard doings.
We discussed the chair set last night and a Sunday trip to check it out. I told her that it would work best if she walked using the wheelchair as a walker. She seemed enthusiastic about this. She anticipated that there would be samples, and we could get lunch there. Considering that I'm not yet in a hurry to get her up, lunch may occur at 1500 or so.
She spent a fair amount of time being cleaned from the inside out yesterday so she should have a fair amount of energy today. She'll probably awaken on her own earlier than usual. I'm keeping a close watch on her.
Last night I considered continuing the nightly 2 mg Detrol, but decided to wait. I have to weigh giving her Detrol against the likelihood that on Detrol she'll awaken when she needs to urinate, take off the oxygen when she goes to the bathroom, won't remember to put it back on and spend half a night without oxygen. Up to recently it's been more important for her to get the oxygen all night than it has been for her to go to the bathroom rather than stew in her own urine for a few hours.
Her aerobic activity is improving though. It would seem amazing except that at our first appointment with the PT, during one of the manipulations she performed on my mother's back, she mentioned that this stretching would help her breathe more deeply. Maybe it's working. She doesn't pant nearly as much even when she's off oxygen.
I notice it's going to be on the cool, windy side, today...high of 69/70, fair skies, light wind. The parking lot at Costco is a wind pit and our home is typically 5 to 10 degrees below the predicted temperature. If she's willing, I'll bundle her up and we'll hit the road this afternoon.
We discussed the chair set last night and a Sunday trip to check it out. I told her that it would work best if she walked using the wheelchair as a walker. She seemed enthusiastic about this. She anticipated that there would be samples, and we could get lunch there. Considering that I'm not yet in a hurry to get her up, lunch may occur at 1500 or so.
She spent a fair amount of time being cleaned from the inside out yesterday so she should have a fair amount of energy today. She'll probably awaken on her own earlier than usual. I'm keeping a close watch on her.
Last night I considered continuing the nightly 2 mg Detrol, but decided to wait. I have to weigh giving her Detrol against the likelihood that on Detrol she'll awaken when she needs to urinate, take off the oxygen when she goes to the bathroom, won't remember to put it back on and spend half a night without oxygen. Up to recently it's been more important for her to get the oxygen all night than it has been for her to go to the bathroom rather than stew in her own urine for a few hours.
Her aerobic activity is improving though. It would seem amazing except that at our first appointment with the PT, during one of the manipulations she performed on my mother's back, she mentioned that this stretching would help her breathe more deeply. Maybe it's working. She doesn't pant nearly as much even when she's off oxygen.
I notice it's going to be on the cool, windy side, today...high of 69/70, fair skies, light wind. The parking lot at Costco is a wind pit and our home is typically 5 to 10 degrees below the predicted temperature. If she's willing, I'll bundle her up and we'll hit the road this afternoon.
