Oh, what a long day it’s been!
Wait… what do you mean it’s not even 6pm yet?
:-D
Actually, it wasn’t that bad. Just longer than expected.
Before heading out to drive my mom to the doctor, I was able to get a few quick pictures – though the camera wanted to focus on everything but the cat…
This is the tree Butterscotch got stuck in a while back. It’s almost like she’s going “I can do it… just watch me…” :-D
I left earlier so I could help my mom to put on her knee brace. I got there and even pulled up to the exit nearest her apartment – only to have her calling me from the main doors. Yup. She was out early, ready and waiting. I mentioned the brace, but no, it’s okay, she says, as she climbs into my van.
My mom is tiny. My van is not. It’s a bit of an effort for her!
The drive in was… illuminating… as my mother expressed her discomfort about being taken off the blood thinners for her heart. I had to explain that the injections were another kind of blood thinner, but something that wouldn’t make her bleed. But she was still uncomfortable with the change. Ultimately, though, she did say it out loud; her discomfort was a matter of racism on her part – though phrased to show she believed the change in her medication was due to racism on the doctor’s part.
That didn’t go over well with me.
While certainly not the worst of conversations with my mother, it definitely had some moments.
At least this time, she didn’t basically accuse me of worshiping frogs. I have decorations on my dash, including scrapbooking adhesive beads, sea turtles, tortoises, a rock fish – in my previous vehicle, I had a much more elaborate display, but the surface is different in this vehicle, and they don’t stick as well. I also have 1 frog on the dash (I had more, but they fell off) and 1 toad, in my dash, next to the gauges. I did this because I was spending so much time driving around and waiting in the van, I made it into my happy place. At Christmas, I even had a tiny Christmas tree with battery operated lights.
My mom just saw the frog, and I guess to her, what I was doing was like when people put little religious statues on their dashes; so it meant that if I had it on the dash, it was because I worshiped it.
But not the turtles. Just the frog.
She doesn’t like frogs.
After we got to the hospital, we found out where they told us to go was not where we needed to go. It was all within feet of each other, at least, and the right people were informed that my mom was there for her injection. We didn’t actually wait for long before a nurse came and took her into a consultation room, along with the blood pressure machine, took her vitals then prepped for the injection. After some questioning of the nurse about the doctor and so on (my mother is pretty good at hiding her racist motives behind these questions), she had to be told again that the injection was another kind of blood thinner, so her heart was still being treated. She asked about having the treatments transferred to the hospital closer to her, and the nurse said she would look into it, and directed us back to the waiting room.
If it hadn’t been for that, we would have been able to leave right away. As it was, because the doctor was in clinic, seeing other people, it took a while.
My mother was remarkably patient, though, even when the not-quite-there lady came back wanting to watch her show, which wasn’t going to start for another 20 minutes, and kept asking us if we watched it, did we know what channel it was on, and where were we from?
When the show did start, she fell asleep.
Altogether, we waited for probably 1 1/2 hours. Eventually, the noise of the TV was too much for my mother, so we moved to a table outside the waiting room that’s reserved for inpatients. Which turned out to be a good thing, because the doctor happened by, recognized us, and came to check on my mom, right then and there.
Which also gave us the opportunity to clarify about the medications and the requested transfer. The doctor wants my mom to keep coming back, rather than transfer to the closer hospital, so that the same people will keep monitoring her eye.
I’m good with driving her.
My mom was pretty tired by then, though, and glad to finally leave. She’s not happy with the situation – especially after I told her that it’s likely she’ll need to come back until the end of the week, before her eye clears. I don’t think she’s getting that this is just her first day of getting the injection instead of her pill, and it’s going to take a while.
I am so glad I have been able to come with her for these. Before going home, she needed to get some prescription refills, and she completely misunderstood the doctor, thinking that ALL her prescriptions were being changed, not just the blood thinners, and so on. Though I explained various things to her, she kept having to get them explained again by others.
It got very exhausting. For both of us!
But I was able to help her get some grocery shopping, too, and carry them in for her. By the time she got home, she looked more than ready for a nap! I do hope she got one.
Tomorrow should, hopefully, just be a quick trip in for her injection, then home again.
And this time, I hope to get that brace on her leg!
It was good to get home. My daughters were in the process of baking more bread, and taking care of the critters. Even got some photos for me.
Mama and the twins had come by, and were very active about it!
While Nasty Crime Boy was very interested in something going on above Eunice, the Barely Upright Snowman.
As for me, it’s all I can do not to go for a nap right now. :-D
The Re-Farmer
