Monday, May 25th
I should have gotten my catheter changed today, but since it was Memorial Day, the doctor was not in, so I would have to wait until Wednesday. Unfortunately, since yesterday, I seem to be experiencing a slight bacterial infection, as I had had pain in my unmentionables last night. Today, I could not stop peeing into my diaper. I had my diaper changed four times instead of just once! I generally did not feel good and was looking forward to getting a decent night's sleep.
It was M’s turn to choose the movie, so he bounced off Jeff Bridges and came up with this choice. The movie also stars Timothy Bottoms, Cybill Shepherd, Ben Johnson, and Cloris Leachman, and was directed by Peter Bogdanovich. The film was made in 1971 but is set in the early 1950s in Texas. It is a sometimes heartbreaking coming-of-age story that is hard to describe as beautiful, but it is certainly a great work of art.
Tuesday, May 26th
Yippee! I finally got five or six hours of solid sleep! I had fallen asleep on top of a soaking wet diaper, but I really don't want to be woken up by being changed. I would rather wake up and get changed, which is what I did. The diapers here are made to pull wetness away from your skin, so I'm not worried about getting a rash. I was still recovering from feeling sick, so I canceled my massage.
Wednesday, May 27th
It was a busy day today, so I got my suppository at 5 AM so I could be cleaned up and ready to have my catheter changed at 7 AM. Everything went like clockwork, and it was all painless. Just the way I like it! The CNA who gave me a shower had a difficult time the first time she did it, but this time went smoother. Mom didn’t stop by, but that was fine, as I spent the whole day being quiet and healing.
Thursday, May 28th
The CNAs got me in my chair by 11:30 AM, and Mom and M showed up before noon, just after I finished eating lunch. We took the bus to the office building where the doctor’s office was. This was my neuro-ophthalmologist who deals with eyes for people like me who have MS. He has a wonderful bedside manner and is very personal.
Mom, who had just had her own eye exam the day before, was not impressed. She was comparing what the doctor had done to her and thinking about what he wasn’t doing to me. I thought, given that she was 25 years older than me and driving, there would be different things to look out for in both of us. And we had had to wait about 30 minutes before the doctor could see us, which had caused some anxiety. I was not worried.
Mom was still living in a world where she did not have to wait for things. Talk to me after you have been on Medicaid and used a shared ride for 14 years, I thought. This is not a big deal. The bright spot for me was getting lunch at the place that sells food in the building. I liked my teriyaki chicken with a fried egg on top. It came with white rice and vegetables, including KALE! Yippee!
To put the icing on the cake, our ride was half an hour late picking us up to go back to the hospital. I was pretty sure I knew why that had happened. They had made the initial reservation days ahead of time and then yesterday had called to change the pick-up time from 2:30 to 4 PM. The driver who was initially scheduled to pick me up wasn't on time for the change. I didn't bother explaining that to Mom. We made it back to the hospital, and the ride was free. Stop complaining.
Friday, May 29th
Mom came at lunch and fed me part of the lunch she had bought for me yesterday. She thought it looked like I had a few more helpings left. Cool! I ate it for dinner too, and my CNA then said there were only vegetables and rice left, so Mom was overestimating how much of an actual meal there was left. That's fine. It tasted good, and I didn't have to eat two hospital meals.
At bedtime, I was still experimenting with the best way to fall asleep. Listening to a podcast had done it for years, but apparently that wasn't enough anymore. I tried watching a show on Paramount+, but they kept playing other episodes continuously, and I didn't want to have to stop the show, I just wanted to watch till I fell asleep.
Then I figured it out. Criterion stops when you are done watching the movie and just shows a blank, black screen. Perfect! I picked a movie and only watched it peeking out from under my eye shades. I watched it enough so that my brain was distracted and not thinking. I let myself get tired and eventually drifted off into sweet slumber!
Saturday May 30th
My sister was traveling back to Hawaii after visiting relatives in the Midwest. Mom wanted to stop by, but since we had spent time together the last two days and she would visit tomorrow and Monday, I convinced her to take the day off and lie low. I thought of a new essay topic and watched movies all day. Nice!
Sunday, May 31st
One of my sister’s flights was delayed, and she ended up staying overnight in LA and coming back to Hawaii today. She texted me and said she would come by to give me breakfast tomorrow morning. That did not surprise me, and I was glad she got back safely. Air travel seems much less safe in general these days, so I was glad to have her back.
Mom stopped by at lunch, and we hung out a bit. I only wrote one sentence of my blog on Sunday, but I am determined to finish it earlier in the week. I forgot to mention I had blood drawn in my hand earlier in the week, but it had only left a little bruise, which was unusual. So I had my sister take a photo featuring the back of my hand. This is my play on the sculpture The Thinker by Rodin, which you can see in a museum outside of San Francisco. Have a great week!
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