Monday, May 4th
One of the new collections on Criterion this month is called ‘80s Remakes (And Their Originals)’. Most of the originals are better, but some of the remakes hold their own. This movie was not one of them. I hadn’t seen this movie since the 80s, but most of my peers will remember the prom song from Phil Collins that came out of the movie. You don't hear it until the very end of the movie when M and I started singing along to it. Mom just looked at us.
Tuesday, May 5th
It was the first Tuesday of the month, so I had D2 give me a massage in bed. We have been working together enough now that she knows my body fairly well, and she concentrated on my circulation today. That involved shaking my limbs a lot to get the blood flowing. Not always relaxing, but when it was over, whatever limb she had been working on felt better. Good!
For whatever reason, I could not fall asleep at night. Eventually, I just lie in bed with my eyes closed, and usually I doze off for a few hours early in the morning. It actually surprises me how functional I can be the next day. Definitely tired, but able to act like a normal human being. I don‘t recommend it.
Wednesday, May 6th
Mom came by a little after 2 PM and mentioned my sister would be stopping by as well. It took me a minute until I realized that I had a virtual appointment with my neurologist at 2:30 pm. I told Mom that I had not slept much last night, and that is a regular occurrence. Something to talk to the doctor about! My sister showed up right at 2:30, and the visit went fine. She prescribed a basic sleep aid, and I hope it works.
Thursday, May 7th
Dr. R and Freddie showed up, and I was so happy to see them! Freddie jumped on the bed eagerly and settled down right on my legs! Gosh darn, do I love the feeling of a cat leaning on me. Dr. R tries to leave a lot of blanket in the back so Freddie has room to move, but somehow, there is never enough. Dr. R will be going on another trip for the last two weeks of May. Boo hoo! Such is life…
Friday, May 8th
Today is the first time I get shots of Botox in my arm so that my fingers will loosen. Interestingly, Medicaid would not pay for the transportation to the doctor’s office. I guess it would be too easy for people to make up a medical reason for it. Anyway, we got there, and I asked if I could video the procedure, and of course, she said no. I thought I could re-create the procedure with M sometime.
The Botox is to loosen the fingers, but you need to inject it into the muscle, not the tendon, so all the shots were in my forearm. She started with a shot on the outside of my arm by the elbow and then did the outside mid-forearm. Then she turned my arm over so my palm was facing the ceiling and gave me a shot by my elbow, and then four shots mid-forearm in a small arc for each finger. For those shots, she had me move my fingers, which made a sound, and that told her she was near muscle.
Needles don‘t bother me, which is good. The Botox was in a skinny hypodermic syringe, but the needle was about 2 inches long. There is, of course, a poke when the needle goes into me, but it wasn't bad. As I watched her give me the shots, I thought some people were very glad I was not filming this right now. They would have a hard time reading about that. Sorry.
On our way out, we stopped by the small snack stand and got some sour cream and onion potato chips. M agreed that I had earned the potato chips by being such a good patient. Thanks, Dad, I thought but did not say it out loud. My next visit is scheduled for August 21st.
Saturday, May 9th
My sister visited later in the afternoon and brought a package of sushi. The floor was wet, and unfortunately, that meant that my urine bag had leaked. Everything got wiped up, and then the people who clean mopped the floor. As she was mopping, I said, ‘I don't even want to ask how many times you've had to do this type of cleanup.’ She chuckled and gave me a knowing look. Just then, my sister said she had to leave to go to the bathroom. "Apparently, you could just drop your pants and pee on the floor!" (Sometimes, I do not have good taste.)
Sunday, May 10th
Even though my cousin lives on Maui, her brother and mom live here, and she visits a lot, so she maintains a membership to a country club here that throws a fabulous Mother‘s Day brunch every year. There are massive amounts of every kind of food you could want. Of course, all the food is laid out under large tents on uneven ground, so guess who doesn't get to see what is available to eat?
It would be impossible for me to maneuver the tight spaces and see everything, so my sister gets a little of all of it and shares a plate with me. I grumble, but my sister does a lot for me, so I should be quiet and enjoy my food!
Let‘s see, I had a few shrimp cocktails, a bite of sashimi, lentil salad with smoked salmon, chilled asparagus, about four very good pieces of sushi, some lamb with mint sauce, beef with horseradish, and almost half of an egg Benedict. Then for dessert, I had some apple pie filling, some Key lime pie, and some macaroons. Good meal, right?
I still need to talk to my sister and ask her to get larger helpings when she does a shared plate. I end up not eating as much as I would like, and while she is stuffed, I am not, and I'm a little bit resentful. But I shove that down and smile. It's not like I'm going hungry; I just don‘t get to stuff myself the way everyone else does.
The photo this week is from the brunch. It is a contender to be Mom’s Christmas card. I had a group picture of the 10 of us who were there, but I thought it was especially unflattering of me, so this is what you get. I hate that I have to wear my eye patch everywhere, or I have double vision, but what am I going to do? Have a fabulous week!
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