Visit with Dr. O

I took mom to see Dr. O yesterday. When I picked her up, it was obvious her A/C wasn’t running. Her hair looked like it had dried after being sweaty. She had put some effort into what she wore; linen pants and a white cotton blouse with cut work on the hem. I got her thermostat set to cool her apartment to 72 degrees, and she told me not to mess with it, because it didn’t work. She’s thinking of swiping one from somewhere else in the building. Lordy.

Her appointment was very low-key. Dr. O is very interested in how mom has been and is doing, what he can do for her, and what a typical day is like. He asked her the typical doc questions about sleep, eating, swallowing, pain, peeing, pooping etc. Took her O2 Sat (98%), BP (157/80), and heartrate (54!). Listened to her heart, and then had his student listen to see if he could hear mom’s heart murmur, which he was able to. He then explained to me, while looking at mom, the blood work he wanted to do to make sure that her BP meds weren’t raising her potassium to the point of making her kidneys cranky. When he checked mom’s ankles for swelling, he discovered her socks, which say, “More Feminism, Less Bullshit!” Dr. O is a big feminist, and laughing out loud, told mom she’d just made his day.

Mom mixed up the labs three times after we left, thinking once that we already had the results and how pleased she was with them. She was obviously focused on these results being her key to returning to the Island.

Mom was kind of ‘on’ today in that she followed up with questions and requests she’s asked and made of me over the last year or so:

• Have you returned everything to the Island (from the mainland house).
• Did you take the bed from the mainland house to the Island house?
• Did you take the Island bed to the Mainland house? (This was a new question, but sort of logical. I told her I was donating the Island bed because it was so old. I can’t give it away… It’s destine for the dump).
• She wanted to know what houses selling for in the (mainland) neighborhood? (She’s still focused on selling the house. Rather than refocus her on leasing the leased house, I shared that a neighbor listed their house 16 days ago and it’s still on the market. Unusual for our area.). This is an impossible question to answer. Houses in our town sell from under 200K for a small townhouse, to many millions of dollars for mansions at the water’s edge where you can watch the whales cavort when they’re feeling playful. 
• Then she suggested when she came down, she’d stay at a motel, or something.

• Taking the cat to the Island if she can’t find someone else to take him.
• Cars. She asked me if VW still made the ‘sqaureback’ or a beetle. And again asked what kind of car we were in, but still has zero awareness that it’s a new car. Interestingly she didn’t said she needs to ‘pick up a car.’
• Only needing to take clothes back to the Island.