Lunch #2

So this was the second day in my new "lunch with Mom" plan.   And I managed to get her NOT to pay for it, which was great. 

I think a really good reason to make this drive every week is that I think that the stimulus of having people around her frequently is good for her.  When I arrived, her friend Jim was there.  She and Jim were officers in a group together for many years and have been friends.  Jim takes his wife to the gym to exercise once a week and he goes to the nearby golf club to hit a bucket of balls.  After he finishes, he stops off at my mother's for a cup of coffee for half an hour or so until time to pick his wife up.  He's been doing this for a long time.

Today she said he asked for my e-mail address so that if he happens to find her dead n the floor, he will know who to contact.  Of course it was said jokingly, but at her age, it's a good plan to have.  He knows how to get into her house if she doesn't answer the door, so it's a comfort to know that he is one of the many people who are making it a plan to check on her regularly.

After he left, we had a nice chat for awhile, and I noticed that she was much less forgetful than she usually is.  

I decided we should call Peach and get this week's saga (as Peach called it).

That saga, as she explained, including "the nurse from hell" deciding to move Bob from out of the 2-bed room where he is now, where he has a wall at one side and a companion on the other side to keep him from falling, into a 4-bed room, where he will have NO walls on either side and where, since he is to be considered "long term care" rather than "rehabilitative care" he cannot have a companion.  I asked her if they couldn't at least put guard rails on the bed and she said she was told no because -- and I absolutely cannot believe they said this -- "it is an infringement of his freedom."  So he has the freedom to fall out of bed regularly????

Well, Peach, bless her, is standing by her man and hell hath no fury than a wife whose husband's safety is in danger.  She did battle with Bob's doctor and the head of the care facility and the upshot is that he will remain where he is...with a caretaker.

In the meantime, he has another urinary tract infection and the facility has a flu epidemic, so nobody can leave their rooms and all visitors must wear masks.

It's just one thing after another and once again, we are all powerless to help do anything.

So we went to lunch.  I suggested we go to Panera, near my mother's house, because I had a gift card from there from Tom and Laurel at Christmas and I could pay for lunch without spending any of my money, and my mother would accept that.   We had a great lunch.  Panera has a great soup + salad or soup + sandwich deal that I've come to order every time (I will order it tomorrow, in fact, when I have lunch at Panera in Davis with Ruth)

I asked her if her step-son was going to watch the SuperBowl with her.  She said he was not, so I decided to create a 3-person SuperBowl party.   We'll come watch the game with her, I'll bring "substantial snacks" which will double as dinner and will require no clean up other than throwing away paper plates, and that will be lunch for next week and I will have tricked her out of spending her money again!

Walt and I went out to dinner at Davis Sushi Buffet tonight, as we do every year on Paul's birthday.

I chose the place, based on how much I'd liked it in the past,but I don't know, tonight it just seemed "tired."  Hot things were warm, cold things weren't really cold and even the wasabi just clumped and wouldn't mix into the soy sauce.  They also have Chinese offerings and everything seemed like it had sat under hot lights for hours, which, since the restaurant is also open for lunch, it may well have.  Oh not that it was bad.  It was tasty, but I don't think I'll choose it again next time, since there seem to be no end of choices for sushi in this town these days.

But anyway...happy birthday, Paul.  Sorry you couldn't have been with us.  Again.