Busy Life (17 Jan 2011)

Mom's neighbors had a little dinner party last night for mom plus several of her close friends. When I asked about it, mom's comment was, "Dinner was a RIOT! She really knows how to put on a dinner party!" She said that she really had fun and that the food was fantastic, as usual. Another set of neighbors had picked her up to take her to the party, and then they took her home afterward. He insisted on walking her down the hill and waiting until she got the door unlocked and the lights on. A gentleman, we decided! Then this morning they came back over and helped mom get her trash compactor unloaded.

One of her neighbors is leaving town tomorrow, and that will leave his wife without a "snow" car, so mom offered to let her use her Explorer. Mom said that her new diuretic (TORSEMIDE) has a side effect of dizziness/lightheadedness, so she does not intend to drive for the next three days.

Mom had to call Dr. Kubac's office to figure out the protocol for the Torsemide, and it's complicated. She has to take her normal dosage of Metolazone, wait one hour and then take 100mg Torsemide, wait one more hour, and then take her increased dosage of Potassium. (And this is only three of her vast array of different prescriptions!) She said that if she falls down she will rattle like a pill bottle!

I asked her if she had had time to think about the hospice option and she said that she's been so busy that she hasn't had a second to think about it. We talked about it a bit, but she said that she isn't ready to start it just yet. She said that she "might consider it" if it turns out that she has to do the 3-day hospital experiment and IF that doesn't help. She reminded me that "Kubac has agreed that he will just release me from the hospital, and I will just do the normal stuff, the Protime for measuring Coumadin, and I am not going to do any fancy stuff." That's the time when she says that she might be willing to have hospice start coming, but right now she thinks it sounds like "more trouble than it's worth." So I reassured her that there's no problem, we will hold off for now and just see how things go next weekend.