Saturday, September 11, 2004
Not sure whether it's a cold or what, but I'm not up to par.
Today was a lost day. Although I need to get ahold of myself, I may lose tomorrow, too. I'm thinking of putting off visiting the Valley until Tuesday. I'm questioning the tax situation surrounding the sale of the home and I need to make some phone calls on Monday without the pressure of being down there. Plus, maybe I can get myself in gear, feel better and trek out to look at sheds.
Mom is delighted that I'm under the weather because every day I feel like shit she gets to sleep and lounge as much as she wants. Today she was up more than me, and ate very well, as you may note over at Mom's Daily Tests and Meds, better than me. I simply didn't have much of an appetite and felt slow and hunched.
Everything works better when I feel better. The slipping up on the food wouldn't have happened because I would have been up the whole time, monitoring her hunger, what she "wants" to eat and when she eats it. When I feel bad, though, I look at what I normally accomplish, what I am able to accomplish while I'm not feeling well and blanch at what I do day after day after day.
Although the sale month is already half over I've just begun. I don't, though, think we'll have a problem doing everything. I'm still looking forward to a renewed restoration of energy and am still very, very relieved, so much so that time seems to be slowing down for me.
I can't remember if I mentioned it so I'm mentioning it here: When Mom was released from the SNF she weight 128.1 lbs. Although the nursing home did not indicate any specific weight trends, she's been losing weight steadily since August of last year. Some of it has been good. Some of it has not. She was wasted when she was released from the SNF. Some of that may have been dehydration, too, as no matter how much I worry about how dehydrated she is, she is always better hydrated here than anywhere else. I've been trying, in subtle ways, while continuing to control her blood glucose largely by diet, to add some extra pounds and I've been successful. She weighed 137 on September 8, 2004. Right on the money. Some of that, I'm pleased to say, is muscle weight, I'm sure, which I've heard is four times as dense as fat weight.
I continue to recall throughout the days something the manager of the mobile home park with which we will soon be breaking ties said, "You know," she leaned across the desk, "your mother can't live down here anymore. The air is bad enough, but that's not the only thing..." allowing her voice to dwindle into the dire. There is something about this small town atmosphere here in Prescott, too, that works on behalf of my mother's health, and our distance keeps us away from the doctors, which seems to help. The Valley, in decades past before the age of air conditioning, used to be considered a citadel of health, particularly cardio-pulmonary health. People used to recover from TB and other chronic lung ailments in the part of the Sonoran that the Phoenix-metroplex now occupies. Now, coming down from Prescott I can smell the Phoenix-metroplex at about Carefree Highway. It is neither pleasant nor unpleasant; it's the smell of industrial dust and gas and desert sand. Superb atmosphere for communicable viruses. The Valley now has a few indigenous viruses, Valley Fever being the most virulent and taking the highest toll, especially among the elderly.
Well, I thought I should check in before the day is done.
Later.
Mom is delighted that I'm under the weather because every day I feel like shit she gets to sleep and lounge as much as she wants. Today she was up more than me, and ate very well, as you may note over at Mom's Daily Tests and Meds, better than me. I simply didn't have much of an appetite and felt slow and hunched.
Everything works better when I feel better. The slipping up on the food wouldn't have happened because I would have been up the whole time, monitoring her hunger, what she "wants" to eat and when she eats it. When I feel bad, though, I look at what I normally accomplish, what I am able to accomplish while I'm not feeling well and blanch at what I do day after day after day.
Although the sale month is already half over I've just begun. I don't, though, think we'll have a problem doing everything. I'm still looking forward to a renewed restoration of energy and am still very, very relieved, so much so that time seems to be slowing down for me.
I can't remember if I mentioned it so I'm mentioning it here: When Mom was released from the SNF she weight 128.1 lbs. Although the nursing home did not indicate any specific weight trends, she's been losing weight steadily since August of last year. Some of it has been good. Some of it has not. She was wasted when she was released from the SNF. Some of that may have been dehydration, too, as no matter how much I worry about how dehydrated she is, she is always better hydrated here than anywhere else. I've been trying, in subtle ways, while continuing to control her blood glucose largely by diet, to add some extra pounds and I've been successful. She weighed 137 on September 8, 2004. Right on the money. Some of that, I'm pleased to say, is muscle weight, I'm sure, which I've heard is four times as dense as fat weight.
I continue to recall throughout the days something the manager of the mobile home park with which we will soon be breaking ties said, "You know," she leaned across the desk, "your mother can't live down here anymore. The air is bad enough, but that's not the only thing..." allowing her voice to dwindle into the dire. There is something about this small town atmosphere here in Prescott, too, that works on behalf of my mother's health, and our distance keeps us away from the doctors, which seems to help. The Valley, in decades past before the age of air conditioning, used to be considered a citadel of health, particularly cardio-pulmonary health. People used to recover from TB and other chronic lung ailments in the part of the Sonoran that the Phoenix-metroplex now occupies. Now, coming down from Prescott I can smell the Phoenix-metroplex at about Carefree Highway. It is neither pleasant nor unpleasant; it's the smell of industrial dust and gas and desert sand. Superb atmosphere for communicable viruses. The Valley now has a few indigenous viruses, Valley Fever being the most virulent and taking the highest toll, especially among the elderly.
Well, I thought I should check in before the day is done.
Later.
