Today was the fifth out of five days when I have had
something to do with my mother, whether taking her to appointments, sitting
with her because she was too upset to leave, going to meetings about
her, or talking with many folks on the phone about her.
There is a perk to all of this: I haven't seen or
heard from Trump in at least three days.
I had a terrible time getting to sleep last night and it was
well after 1 a.m. before I fell asleep and my alarm woke me up at 5:30
because I had to take Walt to the airport at 6;30 for his flight to Santa
Barbara. I went from the airport to Atria, where I had to wake my
mother up at 8 so we could get on the road by 8:30 for her 10 a.m. EEG.
I was worried about waking her up so early but someone from Atria was there
to check on her and she helped me up.
My mother when awakened two or three hours early is actually
quite docile, because she's so confused. This morning he leg hurt so
badly that she said she wouldn't be able to walk. We did get her up,
however, and I called for the Atria person to brig her meds so she could
have a pain pill before we left.
But, since we were going out, she wouldn't give her Norco
because it might make her dizzy and instead just brought Tylenol, which I
know from experience does zilch for her pain. I was miffed about it,
but realized I had to let it go, so I did. I just listened to her pain
for the whole morning and felt helpless.
An electroencephalogram (EEG) is a test that measures and
records the electrical activity of your brain. Special sensors are attached
to your head and hooked by wires to a computer. The computer records your
brain's electrical activity on the screen or on paper as wavy lines. Certain
conditions, such as seizures, can be seen by the changes in the normal
pattern of the brain's electrical activity. The reason for all this is
to find out if she is having seizures, which are causing her to pass out so
often.
We got to the EEG lab and they took her back to attach the
25 electrical sensors to her head.
The tech said that the substance used to attach the sensors
was like shortening. This is what you look like after they are all
removed
My plan had been to stay in the room and read for the 30-40
minutes of the exam, but the idea is for her to go to sleep so they turned
off the lights. I also started coughing and coughing and the tech had
told me that if I coughed I'd have to leave the room because they wanted her
to sleep. I left the room and passed by the room where they were
monitoring her.
I sat and read for half an hour and she eventually came out,
still not sure where she was or what she was doing.
I took her to lunch at Denny's and she ate a lot, though
could not get comfortable in the booth, or in the car on the drive home.
When we got to Atria, I walked her to her apartment so I could carry her
laundry for her, but I didn't stay. I figured she needed a nap...and I
definitely did too. I came home and slept for two hours.
Tomorrow I am doing a theater interview at 11, though I've
been so preoccupied with my mother, I can't even remember what the show is
about. The interviewee is someone I've known since he was a little kid
and I'm doing the interview at his parents' house so they can babysit while
we talk. I must read up on this play before I go!
But then in the afternoon I'm taking my mother to the
hairdresser's at Atria to get all of that goop out of her hair.
Saturday I have absolutely nothing to do and I don't
intend to go to Atria.
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