RIP Prissy

I found this on a friend's blog. She lost her cat on Sept. 27.

Can one ever be truly prepared for the death of a treasured family pet?
Every pagan family needs the obligatory black cat.

Our family LOVES black cats. Astro was all black, but with a white undercoat, then we had 4 "black & whites". Prissy had a tuxedo & little white mittens.We lost our Prissy today. We had her put to sleep. She died about 2:30 this afternoon. I prayed last night that if Prissy died, the ground would be soft enough to bury her. I woke up to rain this morning, but it soon stopped & the sun came out. Don had no trouble burying her. He did it by himself. He didn't ask for help because he didn't think Nick or Eddie would help him. Don-Mike was at work. And I'm such a chicken, I took off for work as soon as we got home from the vet, about 3.

I posted the following on Facebook this morning:

Prissy is still with us, but I don't know if she'll make it to her vet appt. I told Mother that Prissy was very ill & she said she wants to say good-bye. At least I told her while she was at the beauty parlor. Marcella was talking with her when I left.

Mother has her hair done every Saturday morning. Arlene Wanner used to take her, but Arlene has been very ill & is still very weak. I take Mother to her hair appt., Marcella, her beautician, calls me when she is done & then Mother & I go to Subway for lunch.

After Mother's hair appt., I brought her home so that she could say good-bye to Prissy. Prissy was very still & very cold. Mother sat & held her for about 20 minutes. She kept asking if Prissy was alive. She was so cold & still. I felt for Prissy's heart & she was purring.

Last night I had tried giving Prissy some more water in the syringe, but she choked & then she tried getting out of the chair & fell. So, I decided the bathroom heat vent would be the best place to put her. She couldn't fall out of that & break her neck. Several months ago I had bought a cute little fleece blanket at Dollar Tree. I found it again a day or 2 ago & was thinking I would put it in Jae's bed, but didn't. I dug the blanket out last night & put it & an old tattered t-shirt of Nick's on the heat vent in the bathroom & closed the door, not that I was afraid Prissy would go anywhere, but that Marsha might bother her.

Prissy barely made it to the vet appt. When I got home from taking Mother home, Don said that if I would drive, he would hold Prissy. I said no, he could drive & I'd hold Prissy. I had already made the decision we would have her put to sleep. And I didn't want to have to drive on the way home. I did that when I had Boots put to sleep & it's too hard to drive when you're crying. She seized several times on the way down. The first time I thought she was trying to throw up. She had such bad breath. I had Don stop a couple of times.

She was SOOOO cold that when they tried to take her temperature it didn't register. The vet gave us several options, but his first comment when he came in the examining room was that she was trying to check out on us.

One option was to do bloodwork & see what was going on. Another was to let her die naturally or the third was to help her along. She started seizing again as he walked out the door to get something. I asked him what she was doing. He stopped, looked & said, "She's made her decision for you." 

Even though I had made the decision to put her down & not put her through what I put Boots & Astro through, I still cried buckets & have a head ache & burning eyes.

I had a busy day. I took Mother to her hair appt. & lunch; Prissy to the vet & worked for 4 hours. After work, I went to tell Mother we had Prissy put to sleep. I fixed her supper, nuked a frozen dinner. On the way home I stopped at the grocery store for groceries. I fixed supper & am now on my way to bed.

Prissy very ill

My heart is heavy tonight. Our little cat Priscilla Anne (with an e), is very ill. I'm afraid she has FIP. I'm sure that's what Boots had & Astro had it too. Prissy has a vet appt. at 2 tomorrow. Depending on what I find, I'll probably have her put to sleep.

She may also have got in some antifreeze. She's been having trouble drinking. Yesterday she was having trouble walking. Today, she can barely move. She made it to the front room from the laundry room. I picked her up & put her in her favorite chair & that's where she has stayed all day. This afternoon when I got home from work, I gave her 1 CC of water from a syringe, she sputtered & had trouble swallowing, but afterwards she tried getting out of the chair & fell out of it. Don picked her up & put her back in the chair.

Nick's been worried about her since Tuesday. It's too bad when a person is too busy, or thinks they're too busy, to stop & take a sick animal to the vet. But, this is also sad, I had to check the vet credit card to see if I had enough available credit to take her. We don't even have enough money to buy groceries. We are in pay check limbo, the period between pay checks - grrrr.

Easter Sunday

I woke up this morning about 5 in pain. I ached all over, I thought I might throw up, then wondered if it was diarrhea. Nothing that easy, just pain. I came out in the front room & sat in the swivel rocker/recliner. I swiveled it away from the bright light from the network server & sat there dozing fitfully until Don got up, gave me some ibuprofen & I went back to bed.

Nick woke me up about noon to tell me that I wasn't needed in the library. Don had called & said it was "covered." Instead of going back to bed, I got up & put the roast on. I bought a 5 pound pork roast last night. Eddie has gone home, so I don't have to worry about having dinner ready & over by the time he has to be home. I'm using a recipe that is appearing in the Citizen this coming week, Coca-Cola brisket or something like that. They didn't have a brisket at the store last night, not that I would have been able to afford it anyway.

So, my new "project" for the month is to continue striving to make it to bed "on time." But I'm changing my bedtime to midnight. Also, I've been a FlyLady fan for a long time & the monthly habit for April is making your bed every day. That is something I've pretty much mastered. Even if I go back to bed in the middle of the day, even though people die in bed, I get up & remake the bed. I have a selfish reason for that. Our bed is "catland."

As you can see by the picture, our cats share the bed with me in the morning. Here I am working on a daily to-do list & Jae is practically on my lap; Prissy is on my right side, against my knee; Sammy, the yellow cat; Brackin, at the end; and Marsha, the gray cat sitting up.

Lent, Day 40

The last day of Lent & tomorrow is Easter Sunday, Christ's resurrection. The time in the tomb is almost over. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'd never really thought of the meaning of Lent. I think I'll have a deeper appreciation of Christ's sacrifice for us. Perhaps I should watch The Passion of the Christ every Easter season.

Last night was a very rough night for me. I put my CPAP mask on & the hole had ripped bigger, air was just rushing out. So, I thought I'd try Mother's old mask, but I hate that mask. It hurts. So, I had no choice but to pull out the full face mask I got. I fought with that all night. This morning when Don got up for work, yes, he had to work today, I got up to put the salve in Prissy's eye, then hauled out the CPAP bag & pulled out all the literature on the mask. I messed with it for about an hour, got it to fit & laid down & went right to sleep.

Tonight we went to the grocery store & I thought it was 11, closing time, but it was only 10. I'm so tired & have such a headache. I'm hoping tonight is better.

I have my phone calendar set to chime 4 times a day so Prissy gets the salve in her eye. Nick has been a great help & Prissy's eye is starting to look better.

Today Eddie was standing in the door & saw Chris Garrett's big mastiff bite Colton Hull. Colton was over on Gwen's lawn & I don't know if the dog was playing or what, but Colton kicked at him. Chris called the dog home & put him in the kennel. Colton was crying, so I went over to Hulls & rang the doorbell. When Cindy came to the door, I told her what Eddie had seen. The dog had bruised Colton's shoulder, but it hadn't broken the skin. Like Eddie said, the dog is bigger than the kid. Matt was supposed to be watching Colton, but usually when Matt is "watching" Colton, Colton is wandering the neighborhood. I guess Chris was watching his dog too, he was in the driveway & the dog was roaming the neighborhood.

Colton said it was Spillet's dog, the people that lived across the street. They've moved & taken their animals with them. They were there today, but their dogs weren't. When we left Hulls, Eddie said Chris & the Hulls, Matt & Cindy, were yelling. I guess that's one benefit of being hearing impaired, LOL, you can't hear your neighbors yelling at each other.

Tonight when I went to feed Mufasa, I told him that was why I don't let him out. I can't control him & I don't want him wandering the neighborhood.

Lent, Day 37

Just a few more days of the Lenten season & then I'll have to come up with new titles for my subject line. I have had trouble trying to figure out what day of Lent it is. I hope I've numbered them all correctly.

Don made it to bed before I did last night. I had to fill the humidifier of my CPAP machine & then put it in after the lights were out - grrrr. So, it must have been about midnight again.

I spent the morning trying to figure out why the bank wouldn't let Luana cash Mother's rent check on Monday. I still don't know the answer to that, but she got it cashed. Then I checked on the vet charge account to see if there would be enough available credit to pay for both cats & saw only $23 available. So, I spent the morning, what was left of it after I got up at 10:30, working on finances. I was supposed to be to work at noon & didn't make it. I was going to have a piece of toast & take my meds before I took the cats to the vet.

But Nick has been obsessing about Daddy's little red jeep. How he wants to get rid of it & nobody will let him. I told him I did not want to get into an argument about the jeep. I didn't have time.

Nick & Don-Mike did put Brackin & Prissy in the carriers & carried them out to the car for me. By then, I was running late, still had to go up to the Citizen & tell them I'd be later than I was, but I'd still come in.

Prissy's eye has been gray, like Boots' was when I took him to the vet. Dr. Larry, the older, retired vet, was working today, I didn't ask where Dr. Cliff was. I like Dr. Larry better. He looked closely at Prissy's eye. He wanted to see if there was a "foreign body" in it. He found a ripped 3rd eye lid. He said, "Huh, I thought so." Somebody had swatted at Prissy & scratched her in the eye. We all know who did that. Miss Marsha Lu thinks she is God's gift to the Bartlomé family. She's always swiping at the other cats, especially Prissy. And poor little Prissy has been the pariah since the boys (Boots & Astro) died. Astro was the pariah before. Prissy has never fit in, but she & Boots seemed to have a rapport.

I think I know now how Boots died. Nick told me that Sam had run Boots off. We found him out under the lilac tree, so weak, he couldn't stand up. So, I'll bet his gray eye was the result of a swipe from Sam & it got infected.

Anyway, while I was explaining to Becca, the receptionist at the vet's office, that I didn't know how I was going to pay for this because I couldn't find Mother's credit card, I had a sudden, extreme gut ache. OMG, it felt like someone had taken my gut & was twisting it. It hurt SOOOOOOO bad. Becca & Marie, the vet's assistant, gave me a lollipop, they got some Ensure for diabetics, but I could only drink 3 swallows of the Ensure, then I tried throwing up, sticking my finger down my throat & gagging myself, in the bathroom, of course.

I had not had anything to eat before I left, the appt. was at 2 & I was about 5 minutes late. So, we wondered if it was low blood sugar. I hadn't had any of my pills either. I handed Becca my cell phone & she called Don-Mike, but I didn't know I had Big J's programmed as his default number. I always just use the speed dial. So, we tried his speed dial, it went to his voice mail, so she left a message. Then she called Nick. Luckily Don-Mike was at Big J's in Richmond & came back & got me. He called Nick to tell him not to come, but he was already in Franklin. Nick opted to keep coming. Don-Mike stopped at Big J's & picked up his food & while he was in getting it, I swiped 3 big swallows of his drink, still thinking it might be low blood sugar.

I curled up in the fetal position, trying to get some relief from the pain. He asked me what side of the road Instacare was on & I finally sat up. He was on 1400 North, headed for the hospital. I told him I wanted Instacare, but we could go to the hospital, if he wanted. He said ERs are so stinking expensive. I said Instacare was on 4th North & 2nd East. He took 4th East & wended his way to Instacare. OMG, those roads are bumpy. I'm so glad he had his new truck. I could stretch out in the back seat, not that I did.

Nick pulled in right behind us. I think he went directly to Instacare though. I am so glad Nick was there. He stayed right by my side. Don-Mike went right back out to the truck to eat his lunch. Nick helped me at the registration desk, stood by me through the triage room, helped me to the examining room & sat there with me. He left when I told him to go out to the truck & get the cell phone to call Jessi, my supervisor. Don-Mike came in then with Nick. Don-Mike had called Don, so he came up after work. The boys left when Don came & stopped in Richmond to pick up the cats.

The doctor examined me. By that time the pain had let up & I was able to straighten out. I told Nick by the time the doctor came, I was going to be better. Still tender & still having some pain. My urine sample was good, my blood work was good, slightly anemic, no surprise, but my potassium level was up, woo hoo!! My sugar level was 125, slightly elevated, but good considering I hadn't had anything to eat. They took an x-ray & found that there was a lot of stool backed up. I KNOW that wasn't a blocked bowel. The doctor suspects a gall bladder attack. They had to send that blood work to Logan Regional's lab, oh groan, more medical bills.

Anyway, the doctor told me to drink lots of water & they would call in the morning with the results of the blood work they sent to LRH.

Don stopped at the vet's for me to pick up the car. It was 10 to 6 & I told him I was going to go in & tell them I was ok. Whoever went in to pick up the cats told Becca & Marie it was gall stones. I told Nick to tell them the doctor thought it was gall bladder.

Lent, Day 36

We have some idiot racing up & down our street & revving his engine right outside our house. I'm so tired of the "kids" on the corner. I was so psyched Saturday, I thought they had moved, but ... no such luck, as we can hear. He does it at 2 a.m. in the morning. I was talking to a neighbor about half a block away about this neighbor a few weeks ago. He called him "ignernt." It tickled me. Something I didn't expect to hear. It's supposed to be ignorant, but means rude, LOL. Supposed to be Cache Valley-ese, but supposedly found in Canada. Hell-oooo!!! Some parts of Canada were settled by people from Cache Valley.

Anyway, today was much better, health-wise. Again, the attempt to get to bed by 11:30 failed & I made it to bed by 11:55. I was awake at 6 this morning & couldn't get back to sleep. My CPAP mask is ripped & air was leaking. I didn't want to get up & disturb Don. So, once he was up & out of the bathroom, I was in the bathroom & up for the day. I guess I'll have to try Mother's "old" mask again (above).

Speaking of CPAP masks, Mother wore her new CPAP mask (left) until 5 a.m. THIS MORNING!!! Woo hoo!! The longest she has worn it since she got the CPAP machine. She just kept the mask on her face when she got up & went to the bathroom. That's when it has been coming off in the past. Don-Mike told her to take the hose off the mask when she goes to the bathroom in the middle of the night & leave the mask on. She said she did that last night. I asked if it didn't bother her & she said yes, but she hurried. I wouldn't be able to do it, I'd fall or hyperventilate or both.

She said she didn't feel very good this morning when she got up. She'd had a weird dream. I told her it was good for her to dream. People with sleep disorders usually don't fall asleep soundly enough to dream.

I cut Don's hair tonight, almost gave him a buzz by using the shortest guard we have. A buzz will be the next cut, no guard on the clippers. The short hair looked so cool, as in not warm, but not cold , LOL, I was tempted to do it to my own. He actually looks cool, as in sharp, with the short hair too. Could be I'm prejudiced :)

Mother's protime was 2.7 today, within normal limits, keep on the same dosage of coumadin & recheck in 2 weeks.

A work day tomorrow & vet appointment for both Brackin & Prissy. Our vet is in Richmond, Utah. I picked up a cat carrier at the vet's today on our way home from Logan. I'd have forgotten if Mother hadn't reminded me. With 2 cat carriers, ours & the vet's, I can take both cats. Then Don can return the vet's carrier on Thursday on his way home.

Lent, Day 35

Today I woke up at 9:10 when Don-Mike woke me up. I had been awake earlier, but decided it was too early to get up & evidently went back to sleep. I need to be to work by 9 a.m. on Monday, so I got up, hurried & got dressed, took 2 meds, lexapro & metformin, grabbed my 2-liter bottle of Diet Mt. Dew & ran to work. I knew I wasn't going to have time to stop at the Conoco & get a refill.

I parked behind The Citizen & bent over to retrieve my cell phone off the floor of the passenger side of the car. I felt really dizzy. When I sat up, I was dizzy & clammy. I thought I was going to pass out. I sat there with one foot in the car & one foot out of the car. I thought they were going to come out & find me dead in my car. Shortly after I started working at The Citizen, one of my coworkers didn't show up for work one Friday. Walt Ross, the owner at the time, tried calling her off & on all day, but she never answered. He finally called her daughter to see if she knew where her mother was. The daughter found her dead on the back step of her house, one shoe on & one shoe off. It was in January.

Anyway, I decided I wasn't just going to sit in the car, I could make it to the door. I was actually wondering if I was going to make it across the alley. I stopped just as I got across the alley, but told myself I could make it to the door. I made it to the door, then encouraged myself to make it to the time clock. I punched in & then bee lined right for the editor's office. I walked in & Rod, the editor, said, "RaNae you don't look very good." I said I wasn't dead yet, so I couldn't call in sick. Just then Doug Webb, the senior mortician, walked up to the door. Rod quipped, "RaNae, he came to get you." Bob, assistant editor, said, "He's too early." LOL We all laughed &, of course, Doug didn't know what we were laughing at. I told him & then Vicki came in & said I didn't look very good. I said I felt terrible, but I thought it was low blood sugar. She had some mini dark chocolate-filled peanut butter bars. She gave me one & I ate it & sat there for a few minutes. I was amazed at how fast I started feeling better. Color came back to my face & I was able to get up & go to our work station. Jessi, our supervisor, said she was going over to the Conoco to get a drink & asked if she could get me something. I said yes & asked her to get me a muffin loaf. I gave her some money. She soon came back with it. I gobbled it up & felt better. I've had a headache all day & have just felt generally crappy.

Don-Mike traded in his '06 Mustang today for an '04 Chevy Silverado 2500-HD (heavy duty) 3/4 ton 4x4 with a 6.6 liter V8 Duramax diesel engine & an Allison 1000 automatic tranney. He got it for $19,900. The salesman said if he hadn't brought in the page from the Internet he printed it would have cost him $2,000 more. He only got $9,000 as a trade-in for his Mustang. He's pleased with the pickup. He's been wanting a diesel for a long time. One of the ladies he works with told him it was about time he got a truck he doesn't have to work on, LOL. It's got a short bed with a camper package & a towing package. It has a running board so it's easy to get in & out of. It has cloth seats & he wanted leather. He had leather in his 'Stang. He has 4 other trucks. I wonder if he'll get rid of any of them.

Last night I would have made it to bed at 11:30 except I spilled a glass of apple juice as I was reaching to get something behind the recliner. I can't believe how upset I was. First, I was upset the glass had been left there half-full. I'm sure Nick forgot where he put it. He's getting so bad at remembering. Second, I had to clean it up. Third, I wouldn't make it to bed at 11:30. I did make it to bed at midnight, but I hadn't got any soft water at Mother's to fill the humidifier of my CPAP machine. Today, I forgot to get distilled water at the grocery store or to run over to Mother's & get any water. Tonight I'll have to use hard water & remember to get some tomorrow.

I have to work every day this week. It's the Tourist Special Edition. I'll have to take Mother to the doctor tomorrow for her pro-time. Wednesday afternoon I have to take Brackin in for his booster shots. Prissy has an infection in one of her eyes. It's gray. I've probably waited too long & she's blind in that eye.

Lent, Day 19

Can you believe it? It's 8:50 p.m. Facebook & Shockwave both have new layouts. Two favorite sites on one day changed drastically. I don't know if I can handle it.

Only one doctor's visit today too, guess I'll have to go update Mother's Caring Bridge site. Nick went over to Mother's this morning & Don-Mike was still asleep. Nick didn't stay long, but he came home & after I was awake awhile, he came & sat on the bed & visited with me for quite a while. I shared several funny stories about Mother & Daddy & we laughed. I told him about Don-Mike coming in & waking me up this morning.

Me, sound asleep, & Don-Mike, don't know what he did to wake me up, kneeling on the bed looking down at me. I said, "Oh, Eddie, what are you doing?" Don-Mike: "Eddie?" Me: "Oh, Nick? What've you got in your eye?" Don-Mike: "My eye?" Me: "Oh, Don-Mike, umm, never mind." By then I was coherent enough to realize it was Don-Mike & he just had his glasses on. What I had seen was the white nose piece on his glasses & I couldn't figure out what that white thing was on his face. I had been completely & soundly asleep.

I had taken some Western Family cold & flu daytime formula lemon "stuff," that you mix in hot water. It is supposed to compare with TheraFlu. I went to bed, like 11:30 or just a few minutes past. I didn't fall immediately into a sound, dreamless sleep, but once I could breathe through my nose, I did fall asleep. It wasn't dreamless either, when I woke up, staring into Don-Mike's face, my butt was cold & I was all tangled up in my covers with my butt hanging out in the cold. I had Prissy right next to me, practically breathing in my face, & Marsha on my feet. I think it was about 9:30 this morning.

The lemon stuff said not to take it if you have 1) high blood pressure, 2) diabetes, 3) thyroid disease, 4) heart disease, 5) low sodium diet & umm, one more that applies to men only, trouble peeing because of prostate. Well, I only had 2 of the 5 things, high blood pressure & diabetes, so I decided to take it. I remember thinking that Mother couldn't take it because she has 4 of the 5 things, she doesn't have diabetes.

I'm going to take it again tonight, unless Don takes it. There is only one packet left. I didn't use any more Zicam because it said you could only take it 3 days in a row. The lemon stuff worked better anyway. It helped with the fever.

Today when I went over to pick up Mother to take her to Logan, I asked her what she had for lunch today in her home-delivered meal. She said, "Salty soup." I said you're not supposed to have salt. She said she didn't eat it. I asked what it had in it besides salt. She said she thought it was supposed to be chicken noodle soup. When I got home, I looked at it & I think it was supposed to be chicken chow mein. The noodles were soggy chow mein noodles. There was some dry ones in a plastic baggie.

She said she was going to mix in the soup that Don had taken over to her last night. I was looking at the soup & started laughing. I said that you're supposed to put a potato in your soup if you've made it too salty. That's what she had last night was potato soup.

Dreaded double post

I updated Mother's CaringBridge journal last night, so I didn't make an entry here. If you read both, it probably sounds like an echo. I do add more stuff here. I've tried to keep the Caring Bridge journal more about Mother's health & welfare, even though the rest of us creep in there once in a while.

Instacare called Mother yesterday with the results of the chest x-ray. Don-Mike was home & so he answered the phone for her. She doesn't answer the phone if she doesn't recognize the ring. She has 2 cracked ribs. Nothing they can do, but they reminded her to take deep breaths. Shallow breathing can cause pneumonia. But deep breathing hurts when your ribs are sore. If she starts coughing, she is to check back with them ASAP.

At The Preston Citizen we get weekly tips from a place called Dollar Stretchers. We use them once in a while as 'fillers.' Someplace that nothing else will fit. I wish I had remembered this tip. Put 1 cup rubbing alcohol & 2 cups of water in a quart zip loc bag, then bag that in another quart zip loc bag & freeze it. It freezes to a slushy consistency & then can be used on bruises & contusions. I could have sure used that Saturday night for Mother. I've always used a bag of frozen peas, but Mother didn't have any frozen veggies in her freezer.

I used that tip Monday on the social page for Jan. 14. I went right over to Mother's after work on Monday & did it. I checked it Tuesday on my out the door to DUP. It is slushy & will make a perfect ice bag.

Mother has been sleeping in the recliner in the living room because it hurts too much to lay down & have to get up to go to the bathroom. I dressed her leg again tonight & it is still oozing blood. I forgot to get the neosporin & she needs more gauze pads. I had been to the grocery store & had forgotten. But I didn't have a list. Lists are mandatory for me, sigh.

Don-Mike took Mother & I to Ogden today. I almost fell asleep going to Richmond, 14 miles south, yesterday taking Prissy to the vet. I made it to Franklin (about a third of the way to Richmond) & started nodding off. I should've stopped at La Tienda in Franklin & got a soda, but I didn't want to be late to the vet.

I did stop at La Tienda on the way back, got my iPod working, stuck the ear bud in my ear & cranked the volume up as high as it would go. Prissy cried all the way down & back. Tomorrow I get to take Sammy to the vet. I hope I can stay awake. I'll get a drink & use the iPod down AND back.

Anyway, today I slept most of the way down to Ogden & back. I turned off my hearing aid so I couldn't hear the music. Talking about having the volume cranked up. Don-Mike loves his new Chocolate-3 phone. That's what we were listening to, through the radio.

Mother's left hearing aid is not working. Since it is still under warranty, Dr. Christensen will send it back to the factory. Mother had lots of wax build up in both ears. I needed new tubing for my hearing aid. I sweat profusely & even though I have a dryer to put my hearing aids in at night to dry them out, the tubing still hardens fairly fast.

Rockets red glare

Francis Scott Key penned the national anthem in the "rockets red glare," as the battle raged around him. I am typing this as Don-Mike & Nick are yelling at each other. The battle is truly raging around me. I'm glad Mother is not here. This truly upsets her. I have my hearing aid turned off. I can still hear the raging. I am grateful I am deaf in one ear. It's times like this I wish I were deafer than I am.

Nick's zodiac sign is Taurus, the sign of the bull. He is bull-headed & right now he is a raging bull, LOL. Trying for lightheartedness. Don-Mike is Cancer, the twins or as the website I'm giving you the link for says, the crab. There is definitely 2 sides to this young man.

I took Mother to Instacare today after DUP. It was really funny. The medical assistant that took us back to the triage room looked SO familiar. I kept staring. I apologized & said that she looked so much like my cousin's daughter. She laughed & said, "That's because I am." It was Krystal, Jenni's oldest daughter, Luana's granddaughter. After Krystal left the room, Mother bemoaned the fact that she can't see. She asked me who she looked like, I said she looked just like her mother, even down to the dimples in her cheeks. Except she has dark brown hair & her mother is blonde.

They were all so nice there. The doctor was this cute little girl. I know, if she's a doctor, she's not a little girl. But such a sweetheart & petite. I said to Mother, I'd certainly go to her if she had her own practice.

Mother has been concerned that the lump on her thigh is a blood clot. Her leg is bruised all the way around her thigh & down into her calf today. The big lump is still there. So, I asked the doctor. She said no, it was a surface lump & where Mother is on coumadin, it wasn't likely to be a blood clot. I said that Mother's INR level has gotten so low that sometimes she's had TIA's, little strokes. They took Mother's protime & did some blood work. Her INR was high, 3.8; her hemoglobin was low because of all the blood she lost. They were concerned because Mother's protime was so high. I said it wasn't that high. Therapeutic level for Mother is between 2.5 & 3.5.

The doctor told me I should've taken her to the ER & had her leg stitched. I told her that I didn't take her to the ER because Mother doesn't like the doctor's up here. Her skin is so fragile that stitches won't stay in. I guess they could have used butterfly bandages, but I didn't think they'd believe me.

Anyway, they took x-rays of her chest. First time I had seen a chest x-ray of Mother. You could certainly see the wires they'd wired her chest shut with after the open heart surgery & the pacemaker & it's wires.

Instacare is in the same building as Dr. Carlson, Mother's primary care doctor. The Instacare doctor walked across the foyer & talked to Dr. C about her protime level & hemoglobin. He said that her cardiologist follows her protime. Dr. Larkin, I-care doc, said to have the INR rechecked Monday. We'll have it done Tuesday because that is the day that Mother has the CPAP followup with Dr. C. We have her INR checked before we go to Dr. C.

Nick's been on one all day & Don didn't make things any better when he authorized Don-Mike to be on the Verizon account & not Nick. grrrrrrrr.

I woke up late & prolly wouldn't have woke up when I did, if Nick had not awakened me. He asked me what time I needed to be to work. I said I needed to be there at 9. He said that it was 9. I jumped up, grabbed my clothes & was almost dressed when the editor of the newspaper called to see where I was. I told him as soon as I put my pants on & took my meds I'd be there. Then my supervisor wanted to know what my problem was. She's already warned me that it doesn't matter how long I've been there, I can be replaced, sigh. Well, I have news for her, when they replace me, they'll have to pay the new person more than I'm making! The last 2 people, that I know of, make more an hour than I do. The next time the government raises minimum wage, I'll finally get a raise. I mentioned that to the business manager & she said, "We'll see." I said, "No! I'll see. The next raise will make minimum wage more than I make an hour." She said, "Oh."

Then Don was huffy when I mentioned that the dog hadn't been fed. I told him that I had not done my weekly hard drive back up at work because I would have been later than I was picking Mother up for DUP. We go to lunch on DUP day, because the new DUP captain has ruled that there will be no lunches at meetings, only refreshments. And, of course, refreshments always means sugar. So, next month, when it's our turn, mine & Mother's, to have DUP at Mother's house, we will serve tomato soup in mugs & little triangle grilled cheese sandwiches, LOL.

Tuesday is not a day that Mother gets a home-delivered meal. And, like this morning, I'm usually running late & don't have anything to eat in the morning.

Right after DUP I'd taken Mother to Instacare, came home & taken long enough to heat Mother's supper up. I stopped at the grocery store & came home. Don got his outdoor stuff on & I told him to wait, I'd walk down with him. We walked out of the garage & I couldn't see because it was so dark. I mentioned a flashlight & he said he was ok. I said I wasn't. He huffily told me to go back & get a flashlight. I told him I'd be glad to when I dug myself out of the snowbank I'd fallen into.

Then, Nick decided he didn't like the soup I'd made tonight. I gave him 3 options that he could fix himself. Don-Mike told him there was garlic bread. I'd cut generous hunks of garlic bread - 2 soft inner pieces - which is what Don-Mike & Nick like.

So, I'd been running all day. I was grateful Don watered & fed the dog. He's done that for me the last 2 days. Tomorrow, I'll make a conscious effort to feed Mufasa earlier in the day, before the vet visit. Tomorrow is a vet appt for Prissy. If I had another cat carrier, I'd be able to take Sammy with & save an office visit. He has been in a fight & has a bad eye. I'll try for Friday afternoon for Sam.