Saturday, August 28, 2004
We're not going to Mesa today.
My paltry explanation is that, despite me getting up in plenty of time to prepare for the trip and completing preparation, I've had this feeling all morning that today is not the right day, tomorrow would be best. I'm not sure whether this means that today is not best for her, or me, or both of us, but I'm not concerned about this. I probably will not find out why today is not the right day to go...I rarely do in these circumstances, but that doesn't concern me, either. It's enough for me to know that "the universe", as it were, is telling me, "not today, tomorrow". I know it will make no difference to Mom, especially since the change is allowing her to sleep in, not so much by hours, as, considering her bedtime, last night, even if I let her go until 1000, which may happen, she'll still "only" have gotten 11.5 hours of sleep. That's a short night for the original "Sleepy Time Gal". Going tomorrow makes no difference, as well, to what we are planning on doing, there.
So I think today we'll either walker in the square (which may be difficult, since the three day Jazz festival is taking place in Prescott this weekend and it may be impossible to find parking downtown that allows the square to be handy to us without tiring her out before we get there) or maybe walker around the outside of the mall, snoop around the shops we've never visited, have lunch at one of the many restaurants, etc.
It's not unusual for me to change plans based on, "good day/bad day feelings". It also isn't unusual for me to ignore such feelings and continue with plans, then wish I hadn't. My track record satisfies me that we will not be sorry putting the trip off a day.
I finally did something this morning that I should have done a long time ago; I called to get Mom started on receiving her diabetic testing supplies through a mail-order service who will negotiate the paperwork that pharmacies don't handle and that I never seem to find the time to do. Medicare/Tricare for Life should be covering 100% of her supplies but the process isn't automatic, as it is with everything else medical in her life. Going through pharmacies and having to negotiate the ridiculous paperwork that they refuse to do (which I put off until it is no longer applicable) has been ensuring, over the last 5 years, that we have been paying out of pocket for most, and sometimes all, of her diabetic supplies, the price of which is formidable. This service should nip that problem in full flower.
I'm curious about how her knee is doing today. I offered her acetaminophen last night but she refused it, telling me her knee wasn't bothering her "that bad". Aside from her high pain tolerance, she continues to prefer not to take pills even for pain or discomfort unless absolutely necessary. I know when she finally assents to a pill for pain for most people it would be long overdue so I trust her on this score. I'm actually pleased she is not a pill taker by nature. This trait of hers is my inspiration for continually trying to cut back, cut back, and then cut back some more on medications and handle conditions that would normally throw a physician into medication hyperdrive through other means. Except for supplements. She's always been an enthusiastic supplement taker. I just manage them now with a great deal more information than she ever did. She still regularly, sometimes daily, questions the need for one or another of the pills she notices me shaking out of an obvious prescription bottle. "Now what's that?" she'll ask, while sitting at the table before a meal, sitting on the toilet during her bath, laying in bed before arising while I administer her first dose of iron. If I don't provide all the information she considers important she'll ask, "Why am I taking it?" and "Is it necessary?"
I always answer her in full and honestly. I also keep her informed as to what medications I'm working on cutting back, with which ones I'm having little success with cut backs and why, in my opinion, this is happening. I do this even though I tend to have to daily repeat all of it.
I'm not the only medicine dispenser who gets this third degree. When she's in a medical facility she does the same, to her credit, I believe. The problem with medical facilities is that they usually don't answer her fully or honestly, thus creating the secondary problem of having to connive against her to get her to take medication she doesn't think she needs. I've given up telling them that they are better off respecting her questions and giving full, honest answers rather than placating her and/or trying to get her to take prescribed meds with veiled threats to her health.
I have just as much trouble as does she managing medications being dispensed on-the-spot by medical facilities. The difference between her attempts at management and mine is that I'm not bedridden when I'm tending to her in-facility and always follow up on my investigations and medical management decisions with vigor until someone listens to me (usually with a series of annoyed sighs), takes my input into consideration and puts it into practice.
I think I'll stop here and check in on Mom, maybe start working her toward the edge of the bed. I have no idea how the day will unfold today but I'm satisfied that it will be a good one.
Later.
So I think today we'll either walker in the square (which may be difficult, since the three day Jazz festival is taking place in Prescott this weekend and it may be impossible to find parking downtown that allows the square to be handy to us without tiring her out before we get there) or maybe walker around the outside of the mall, snoop around the shops we've never visited, have lunch at one of the many restaurants, etc.
It's not unusual for me to change plans based on, "good day/bad day feelings". It also isn't unusual for me to ignore such feelings and continue with plans, then wish I hadn't. My track record satisfies me that we will not be sorry putting the trip off a day.
I finally did something this morning that I should have done a long time ago; I called to get Mom started on receiving her diabetic testing supplies through a mail-order service who will negotiate the paperwork that pharmacies don't handle and that I never seem to find the time to do. Medicare/Tricare for Life should be covering 100% of her supplies but the process isn't automatic, as it is with everything else medical in her life. Going through pharmacies and having to negotiate the ridiculous paperwork that they refuse to do (which I put off until it is no longer applicable) has been ensuring, over the last 5 years, that we have been paying out of pocket for most, and sometimes all, of her diabetic supplies, the price of which is formidable. This service should nip that problem in full flower.
I'm curious about how her knee is doing today. I offered her acetaminophen last night but she refused it, telling me her knee wasn't bothering her "that bad". Aside from her high pain tolerance, she continues to prefer not to take pills even for pain or discomfort unless absolutely necessary. I know when she finally assents to a pill for pain for most people it would be long overdue so I trust her on this score. I'm actually pleased she is not a pill taker by nature. This trait of hers is my inspiration for continually trying to cut back, cut back, and then cut back some more on medications and handle conditions that would normally throw a physician into medication hyperdrive through other means. Except for supplements. She's always been an enthusiastic supplement taker. I just manage them now with a great deal more information than she ever did. She still regularly, sometimes daily, questions the need for one or another of the pills she notices me shaking out of an obvious prescription bottle. "Now what's that?" she'll ask, while sitting at the table before a meal, sitting on the toilet during her bath, laying in bed before arising while I administer her first dose of iron. If I don't provide all the information she considers important she'll ask, "Why am I taking it?" and "Is it necessary?"
I always answer her in full and honestly. I also keep her informed as to what medications I'm working on cutting back, with which ones I'm having little success with cut backs and why, in my opinion, this is happening. I do this even though I tend to have to daily repeat all of it.
I'm not the only medicine dispenser who gets this third degree. When she's in a medical facility she does the same, to her credit, I believe. The problem with medical facilities is that they usually don't answer her fully or honestly, thus creating the secondary problem of having to connive against her to get her to take medication she doesn't think she needs. I've given up telling them that they are better off respecting her questions and giving full, honest answers rather than placating her and/or trying to get her to take prescribed meds with veiled threats to her health.
I have just as much trouble as does she managing medications being dispensed on-the-spot by medical facilities. The difference between her attempts at management and mine is that I'm not bedridden when I'm tending to her in-facility and always follow up on my investigations and medical management decisions with vigor until someone listens to me (usually with a series of annoyed sighs), takes my input into consideration and puts it into practice.
I think I'll stop here and check in on Mom, maybe start working her toward the edge of the bed. I have no idea how the day will unfold today but I'm satisfied that it will be a good one.
Later.
