Yesterday I went with Dad to his eye appointment. It was scheduled for 3:40 but they called him that morning and told him he could come in earlier. It was just going to be a 20 minute appointment. I grabbed a shower and took care of a few things here and left for the VA at 1:00. Guess what time they took us in? Yep.
Then after we got in there they had to dilate his eyes. More waiting. The whole exam took another hour. They scheduled his next appointment for next month. They're going to test him with lenses to see if glasses will help, which they already know WON'T but that's what they're going to do anyway. It's the VA. Then they'll schedule his surgery.
Dad has been feeling better lately, which is great. But he's also been a little hard to handle. He truly doesn't think he has any kind of a problem. He insisted on driving himself to the appointment without me but I insisted more strongly that I should take him. I need to be there to ask questions and hear what they have to say. Dad would forget everything. It's a good thing I went because his vision was still quite blurry when we left and I KNOW he would have tried to drive himself home.
So, I spent 4 hours at the VA with Dad yesterday. Sitting and waiting for most of it. With Dad. Politely listening to bs. For four hours.
Today Sherri and her boss, Bob, came by to look at the land. Bob told us a few things that Marcelle didn't (wow, big surprise). We'll schedule another meeting so more of us can talk to him. It would be good if we could do it with Dede and David there. After talking to Bob and Sherri today I'm more sure I wouldn't want to go with Marcelle on this. We'll see what the next realtor has to say.
Paige went up Mt. Rubidoux with me this evening. She walked pretty fast. Kicked my butt.
Tomorrow morning Dad has an appointment with the new Blue Cross primary care doc. It's getting harder and harder to explain to him why he should be seeing this person. Somebody else take a turn, ok?
We had another little fight about his diabetes test supplies. Nothing big, but he was pushing. Jim gave him everything so if he loses it all we can say THAT'S why we want to keep it here! He's pushier, a little meaner and more dismissive. I think this land sale has taken some pressure off so he's got more energy and a brighter outlook. Great for him but it also means he's more in denial about the Alzheimer's and he thinks he can be the old Stan and push people around. So far, I've been pretty patient but it gets hard sometimes.
He seems pretty normal most of the time but yesterday he asked me why we haven't seen Mindy's dad lately. How long has he been gone? Five years?
This is kind of a weird time right now. Not as bad as it was three weeks ago, but still weird.
3 comments:
Yikes, well at least you sound pretty calm. Thats good.
I'm doing ok. This morning I took him to another appointment, this time with a new primary care doc with Blue Cross. She wanted to know if he had been diagnosed with anything. He told her about his diabetes and high blood pressure but didn't mention the Alzheimer's. I mentioned it to her and he shot me a look.
Sometimes I feel like I should let him go to the doctor by himself if he thinks he's so on top of things. But I know that would be a disaster and a complete waste of the doctor's time. He has no idea how much he depends on me during these visits. It's like driving. You go along constantly making corrections so you won't hit something. It's like that with Dad. He can't do this on his own and he doesn't know it. I have to "drive" him.
Oh well, no more appointments this week.
And I'll bet the doctor saw him shooting the look too huh?
Maybe prozac can be added to his daily diet?
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