Catch My Breath

It's Saturday night and I'm sitting on my porch listening to the fountain below and catching my breath.  

This week has been a wonderfully busy week.

With Mom unable to drive, I've been running errands for her and Dad after work.  I do not mind doing this at all, however, I'm tired!  Wednesday, we had a follow up visit with her cardiologist.  This appointment had been scheduled for several months. The hospital system shares their records with her heart doctor so he already knew she had fallen twice when he walked in the door.  He thought it would be a good idea to have Mom wear a heart monitor for 30 days just to make sure that her heart is not stopping or doing anything that would cause her to fall.  This was totally unexpected but, I'm so glad he is doing it.  Mom, on the other hand, would prefer not to wear the monitor.  

When I dropped Mom off from the doctor visit,  Daniel came over.  He stays with Nana and Papa while Rana goes to work.  

To cheer up Mom, I brought Balto over for a visit after work.  He loves her.  

You can see the wire from the heart monitor hanging out of her shirt.  

Fast forward to Friday, Mom and I went back to Ortho Carolina for another x-ray of her arm.  It has gotten worse.  The doctor would like to put a plate and several screws in her arm to fix it.  This is not an easy decision.  The doctor says that her hand will heal without surgery but she won't have full mobility.  She said that she has seen people choose not to have surgery and do just fine.  Our issue is that Mom is 82, she isn't very active and this is her non-dominant hand.  Do we really want to put someone who has atrial fibrillation through surgery when she will need to come off of her blood thinners IF she doesn't absolutely need it.  After what happened to Dad in his heart procedure....I'm not sure what to do.  Mom does not want the surgery and ultimately, the decision is up to Mom.  She takes my opinion very seriously so I want it to be a wise one. 

Kevin made spaghetti for Mom and Dad on Friday night.  I snuck another picture of Dad blessing their food.  As you can see, they both have their pill organizers beside their plate. 

Today is Saturday!  I spent the day running back and forth between my house and my parents' house so that I could do everyone's laundry.  Mom can't safely go up and down the steps to the basement with her cast on.  Once I get the clothes upstairs, she is able to fold them and put them away.   By 10:30 a.m., Dad had an old movie on T.V. and was taking Nap #1 of the day.  

I decided that Mom needed a trip outside of the house that was not to a doctor's office or hospital.  We took Daniel (Laura was with her caretaker) and went to Stack's Kitchen to eat breakfast for lunch.  Daniel always has to have something in his hand; he chose a small alarm clock today.  

Daniel finally got a new bike helmet that fits. 

He entertained Nana and Papa with his bicycle. 

Guess who is always around?  I wonder if his/her owners ever miss him.  

Daniel helped Kevin cut the grass. 

He found an old gift card to Auto Bell Car Wash in the yard and decided to attach it to his bicycle.  

I guess you just never know when you might need an old gift card.  

Monday, Blossom's foster mom posted this memory on Facebook.  It's hard to believe that it has been almost 7 years since we adopted Blossom.  I found her on Petfinder and we drove several hours to adopt her.  We couldn't adopt her on the first trip because she was scheduled for surgery.  If you were reading this blog 7 years ago, you remember how excited we were to go pick her up.  Such a fun memory.