Mom & Me Four Archive

    Blood draw results from 4/4/06, including a CBC, Iron and an HA1c. You already know the biggie results.
    No comments on anything. I'm just sittin' and grinnin'. Now, more than ever, I'm glad I purchased that copy of Excel. I want to do some projection graphs. None of my other spreadsheet applications will allow first stage graphing of the formula I'm going to do.
    So, I took a three hour nap today! Mom only took a two hour nap. When I awoke, she and Mr. Man were cuddling at the dinette table. Verrrry sweet! Good start to an Easter weekend.
    The flowers came while Mom was bathing. What a difference these bright gems make in our home! From now on I'm considering all kinds of alternatives to roses.
    Mom was in the mood for a movie tonight. We tried two until we hit upon the right one, Chocolat. Perfect pre-Easter movie! She hadn't remembered seeing it, so the viewing was rewarding for both of us. For me, personally, I began to get chills from the beginning of the menu music.
    Which reminds me: One of these days I need to freshen the "mentioned" links in the movie section.
    Despite the sleep that overtook me this afternoon, I'm feeling good, expecting to be able to get in a short trip to Costco in the morning. Still haven't heard anything about our taxes, but I've got it covered, just in case. At this point, I'm not beginning to be concerned about MA's office, his staff, his health...I hope nothing serious is wrong. It's an independent office. Very high quality. Very reliable. This is so unlike them.
    I want to do some gardening this weekend. Depending on when I arise (or decide to set my alarm for), I may leave even earlier and stop by Home Depot. I need wheelbarrow, a good, sturdy one, like an off-road wheelbarrow, and a manual hole digger.
    I'm feeling good. No company expected. Haven't heard from anyone except MCS. The Gerberas are magnificent.
    Later.

...just in case I don't make it to Costco tomorrow morning. We could use some more T(angerine)J, but I can pick some up at the local organic market if necessary. Already a holiday accident, I noticed, right at the main entrance off State Route 69 into the Prescott Gateway Mall. Tsk, tsk, tsk. I want to stay off the roads this weekend.
    Yes, I've got Mom's HoneyBaked Ham. Yes, I got scones. Yes, I got pie. Cherry. Crumble crust. Tried to get Mrs. Smith's but there was a run on them pies so I got Marie Callendar's, frozen version. Yes I got plenty of lemons for Hollandaise sauce for the broccoli. Yes, I expect her to eat the broccoli, which will be (very) lightly steamed. Yes, flowers will be arriving today, Gerbera Daisies. I may even pick one of the daffodils for the house. Haven't decided. Yes, I know, it's going to rain this afternoon and this evening. Yes, we've got a good movie; two, in fact.
    I'm feeling especially good about everything, including something you'd think I wouldn't feel so good bout, I'm not sure where our taxes are in the process of being done and how much we need to send to The Feds on Monday. I totally forgot about it. Until yesterday. Stupid day to decide to email MA, right!?! But, I figured it would be even more stupid to call. Anyway, I've got it covered. If I don't have an amount by Mondy AM I'll send in our first ES payments in the same amount as last year. I'll trust (and I mean this), even if I don't hear anything, that any overages we owe The Feds on last year will be filed electronically at the proper time, whether I hear to this effect. And if it isn't? Got it covered, emotionally, anyway. I mean, what's the worst that could happen?
    So I guess it's obvious, we're spending Easter here. No one's called with an invitation. I haven't attempted to scrounge invitations. So, this is nice. Especially with today's weather.
    I'm not sure whether I'm letting Mom sleep in. Maybe. We'll see.
    I'll probably check in again...
    ...later.

...and, despite being tired and needing to arise early and be on the road no later than 0845, I can't settle myself down enough to get to sleep. It's a good excitement; like I'm expecting Santa. We don't play the lottery anymore so I have no idea what this really is.
    Thought I'd mention it.
    Later.

    I noticed them this morning in the middle of the front yard, underneath some indigenous brush, on the street side of the retaining wall. We have loads of irises, white and purple, more every year. We've been sprouting the odd, unnamed bulb flower in the spring in front, too. Sometimes I find them in those specialty seed catalogs. A deep, deep purple one with stars comes up every year. We've had a bright pink one with ball shaped flowers on the stem, too. I've always wanted daffodils. I plan to plant them every year and somehow each year passes me by without daffodils. So, I am thrilled to see these coming up. One of the reasons I love this piece of property is that it has so many delightful surprises just beneath the surface.
    Although Mom awoke late, again, I let her sleep in for no other reason than that I was enjoying myself cataloguing posts for the TOC and forgot about the time. She moved very slow today but stayed up, barely napped, read "her" morning newspaper cover to cover for the first time since we started the subscription last Thursday, relished it so much she had to be reminded, twice, to attend to eating her breakfast. Mostly watched TV and read this afternoon. Got very excited about the National Geographic Channel program The Gospel of Judas so watched television intently right up to it's debut in this area at 2100.
    I'm not sure why, a minor reason, I'm sure, but toward the end of her evening I was in a snotty mood. Right after much anticipated TV show ended, I began preparing her, abruptly, for her leg rubdown. "I want you to know," I announced, "this is probably going to be a short one. I'm not in the mood, tonight, but I know this is therapeutic."
    She was undaunted.
    So, I started harrassing her to drink her coffee; that she needed to move more, she's too stiff...
    ...to which she sighed with exasperation and said, "I know, I know," to be interpreted, "We've gone through this before..."
    Suddenly I realized how absurd I was being and started laughing. "And, by the way," I added, "you cannot do anything right tonight, so don't even try."
    "I'm getting that feeling," she confirmed, wryly.
    From that point on I was much calmer and, in fact, we had a usual leisurely session, cut short by Mom needing to get to the bathroom. Now.
    It's supposed to rain tomorrow in the afternoon, cloud over in the morning. More later in the day and evening. They're showing pictures of lightning. I've got some errands to run early in the morning, then I should be home for the rest of the weekend.
    Anyway, back to cataloguing. When I catch up to myself I stop and create the TOC page.
    Later.

...for Mom's blood drawn on April 4th at her PCP's office. Since I called to remind the office to send them out last Friday I was a little concerned. I just now, at 1315, talked to the office. It seems the lab results, since not "stat", went out on the regular "out" day, which is Wednesday.
    I was careful to assure the person with whom I talked that since I hadn't heard from Mom's PCP everything must have looked pretty good. It did. Very good. Over the phone I was given Mom's:

• HA1c: 5.1 (good range);
• Hemoglobin: 10.1 (before enhanced iron dosage);
• Hematocrit: 29.3 (good ratio to Hemoglobin)
• Iron: 47 (normal in Mesa; low in Prescott

    So, I'm relieved. The official results should show up in tomorrow's mail.
    Later.

    I certainly was up and showered on time. When I noticed, though, that I had enough Half & Half for two cups of coffee, my morning slowed considerably. I've been doing cataloguing since then. I'm up to this year's second week. I just made my second cup of coffee. I'll for sure need to get more cream stuff and coffee before tomorrow morning. But, maybe I'll just do a short trip to the close local grocery later. Nothing is urgent and I'm having fun reading myself again.
    Not sure when Mom will be rousing. I'll leave it up to her as much as possible, then I'll worry around noon if she's not up by then. Yes, I did go out and get batteries for the blood pressure monitor but that was at our local pharmacy.

you'll want to check out The Dailies for today, as we had a slightly different day, today, and I cover it over there. Interesting.
    I took a looong nap, today, much to everyone's surprise. Went down early for Mom, let alone me, with three ibuprofen under my belt: 1330; about three and a half hours after Mom had arisen; a good seven hours since I'd arisen. I awoke at 1810 in a sweat. I could hear life happening in the front of the house. That meant Mom was up. She confirmed that she'd been up, "...oh, I'd say about a half hour..." which could have meant a good hour. So sign that she'd eaten anything. I launched lunch immediately.
    I felt pretty foggy, at first, but within about a quarter hour I was feeling much better than I'd felt in days, without realizing it until I felt better. I guess I've had yet another low grade cold and probably a fever I've been ignoring. That certainly would explain my low energy level lately. It certainly would not explain why I ate nothing over the last three days except a pound of See's Candy meant for my mother. I have no idea why I did that. Today is my first day of healthy food since I opened that box. I don't usually like or eat candy. But, I don't know what got into me. I suddenly wanted candy and I didn't care what kind.
    I have been fairly productive over the last three days. I just haven't moved much beyond the computer. The TOC cataloguing continues. I'm in late October of last year, now. I should be debuting something soon. It'll be an interesting Table of Contents, I can guarantee.
    Well, I think I'll do some email clean-out then get back to cataloguing. I think I'm up for awhile.
    Later.

    No stats were taken, either, which is just as well considering that I allowed Mom yet another caddy-wampus day in order to enjoy reflecting.
    No reporting over at The Dailies, either, yet. I'll probably do that...
    ...later.

...although I am aware, today, that it is not the weekend.
    Of all the journal maintenance projects I've got lined up, I decided to begin the one I've talked about the least: Augmenting the Archived Journal and Histories with more material from e's to fill as many of the reportage gaps that I can since 1994. No, I didn't have the internet, then, so I wasn't writing anyone much. But from 1999 on I did, and I wrote about my mother to several sources.
    Some of the more interesting posts

• A blow by blow account of her sudden, anemic fluid retention, her subsequent medically caused blood pressure crash and the beginning of the round of "Why Does She Have Anemia?" tests in September, 2002
• One, count 'em two colonoscopy posts immediately following the colonoscopy Mom endured on July 23, 2003
• An interesting discussion of depression in the elderly on May 2, 2002

    As you can tell, I am having yet another day when I'm not keen on getting Mom up, so I'm waiting her out. She's coughed twice since around noon but nothing else.
    I'm also awaiting the blood test results from her April 4th appointment. I called for those on Friday and everything was okayed. Dare my optimism leap out of bounds and hope for those results to be in the mail (which has not yet arrived) today?!?
    We are receiving the morning paper, now, from Phoenix, not the local paper. I restarted it at Mom's request. She is actually reading it every morning. Her tabloids are still necessary; there isn't much that catches her eye in the paper. But it pleases me to see her bent over a morning paper, scouring it for tidbits.
    Curiously, I am barely reading it. One article caught my eye headlining one of the inner sections scattered about the table yesterday morning. This led me to discover that she is amenable to suggestions on what articles to read. She took note of my interest in the article, about megapolitans, I think that's what they're calling them, stretches of cities within a 400 to 500 (or more, I think) radius that function as a mega community and bleed into one another, geographically, economically or both. I summarized the article by first reminding her of our family members' many trips between Prescott and Tucson and the notice we took, from 1973 (when the trips began) on, how every year Black Canyon City and Phoenix would become "closer" and so would Phoenix and Tucson.
    Yes, she remembered.
    This article, I told her, is about this phenomenon, how it has occurred and what it might mean to the delivery of services and the well-being of the population contained within the megapolitan.
    She nodded. Said, "Oh," with interest.
    When I finished the article and dropped the section, article up, nonchalantly on the table, Mom took the section and started reading the article.
    Damn, what could be keeping the mail?!? Weird. I hardly ever freak about mail delivery. It's usually too early and too often for me.
    Later.

    Mine started about five hours ago. I'm letting Mom sleep in, if she wants, at least until 1300. Then, we'll see.
    Not sure what we'll be doing. I don't think any of it will involve going out. Maybe I'll make chili and cornbread tonight. Sounds good.
    I noticed last night that I suddenly have a pronounced preference for rice, vegetables and salad dressing (or left over Hollandaise Sauce). I'm sure I could never get Mom to agree to eat this way for awhile, although you never know. Even though she turned down the thought of it, last night, when she was chowing down on banana bread and cottage cheese, she was eyeing my steamed brocolli over left over seasoned rice with Greek dressing. Probably the Summer Eating Syndrome kicking in.
    It's a little colder and cloudier than I expected. I've closed some of the windows we had open yesterday. Hmmm, well, according to the weather it's supposed to get up to 72 in town. Pressure rising. Dew Point 9. 76 by Thursday. Nice.
    Maybe I'll do some cataloguing for awhile. I left off at the second week in October, 2005. That sounds intriguing.