2019 Life Logs, Day 7: Tennessee to Cape Cod
Date: Monday, January 7, 2019
Weather: Mostly Sunny; Temps on Cape Cod–High 34, Low 22 degrees F
Location: Back Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It is always good to get home, but I hated to leave my sister to deal with all of Joe’s health issues. She has her daughter Janet to rely on, but having me there gave her a break from the everyday chores of cooking and cleaning and also gave her someone to talk to about the issues. I called this evening when I got home and she said that today the home health nurse came, plus the occupational therapist, the physical therapist, another nurse that had a lot of questions, plus a speech therapist. That is a lot of therapists in one day! When the occupational therapist came last week, I asked her if she could get Patsy a copy of the hospital report on Joe’s condition as they did not give us anything when we left the hospital. When the occupational therapist looked it up on her tablet, she was very surprised that a CT scan Joe had while in the hospital showed evidence of an ‘old’ lacunar stroke. Patsy had no idea that had ever happened. Maybe that discovery triggered the need for the speech therapist. No one mentioned that addition last week, but speech therapy will be happening now as well. Some therapists come one time a week, some two times per week, and some three times per week. All of these sessions are going to keep Patsy busy for a while. Hopefully it will help Joe’s current situation which is basically that he sleeps 22 out of 24 hours unless the visiting nurses and therapists are there to work with him. This is a very complex situation and I just hope my 85 year-old sister that weighs only 88 pounds can stay strong. Go, Patsy!
My trip home took 9 hours, but the flight was only 2 hours and 20 minutes. The bus trip from Logan Airport to the Park and Ride where my car was waiting took 2 hours and 10 minutes. And then the drive home took another 25 minutes. Add in the wait time at the airport and wait time for the bus, and the trip takes all day. While I was waiting for the bus at the airport, I got a text from Heather inviting me over for an early dinner as all three boys had Scout activities tonight, I jumped at the chance to see the Goldstones and not have to cook dinner. Thank you, Heather.
On my way to Heather’s for dinner, I stopped by my house to turn up the heat and to check on the aquarium. I used an aquarium vacation feeder which allows the fish to eat at will and found that the babies have doubled, even tripled in size in the past two weeks. I turned the light off in the aquarium for the time I was away and when I got home this evening, the two glass fish the boys and I added to the aquarium in November were swimming around. I have not seen them since the day we put them in the aquarium, so I assumed they had died. But it seems they are alive and well and living in the aquarium castle. I’m going to get the Goldpebbles to build a Lego ship wreck for the aquarium and then take the castle out for a while. Maybe then we can see the glass fish. But I have to say watching the baby Platys grow is such a delight. They looked like little bugs when they first appeared and now they looks like miniature adult Platys, each with his or her own distinctive look. I really enjoy having the aquarium. Knowing that I can leave it for two weeks and that the fish do just fine is also a great relief.
Yesterday I took down my sister’s artificial Christmas tree and got it stored away. It comes apart in three pieces and is quite difficult to handle. When I got home this evening, my ‘live’ Christmas tree was here to greet me. So now I must get the ornaments stored and the Christmas tree (still green and beautiful) out the door and ready to be ‘recycled’. The rest of my week will be spent putting away Christmas, meeting with the orthopedic surgeon about my knee (oh, my poor knee), and going to various meetings and appointments. Tomorrow I have an 8 am appointment to get an oil change and tire rotation on my car and then at 12:40 pm I will pick up the Goldpebbles from school as it is an Early Release Day. No lack of things to keep me busy around here!
