Busy Tuesday (Tue, 8 Mar, 2011)

We went to the Lake Wound Clinic for mom's regular Tuesday appointment. Dr. Bongiovanni (AKA Dr. B) came into the exam room, looked at mom's shin wound, and immediately exclaimed, "Wow, that's about HALF the size it was when you came here two weeks ago! It's a bazillion times better!"

While Dr. B was tending to the wound, we talked to her about hospice and learned that she works with High Desert Hospice. I commented that I had no idea that there were two hospices in KF, and she said wryly, "Yeah, and they won't tell you that either." Then she commented cryptically, "There's a reason why I don't work with them." She didn't elaborate. I told her that Kubac has already agreed to be the primary doc with hospice, and that I had already gotten the ball rolling with Klamath Hospice, but mom insisted on continuing to see Dr. B, and if KF Hospice couldn't work that out, mom considered that to be a deal-breaker. I told her that KF Hospice was going to be calling, but now that I know she works with HD Hospice, I would switch gears and immediately call them.

Dr. B told mom that she needs to build new skin, and she wants mom to have six small PROTEIN meals a day. She didn't care what else mom ate, but she insisted on animal-based protein at regular intervals all day to build up her serum protein levels and keep them stable rather than up/down/up/down. Dr. B said that she prefers beef, but anything "that had legs" would be OK.

As soon as we got out to the car, I called HDHospice. The upshot is that their social worker is coming out today (should be here in about a half hour). I then called KF hospice and left voicemail for their social worker, telling her that because of our need to continue with Dr. B, we had decided to go with HDHospice since Dr. B works with them, and I apologized for the change of plans.

Then we went to the lab to get mom's blood draw, and after she walked inside we found out that they close for lunch at noon (10 minutes away) they told us we would have to come back after 1pm. Mom walked back out and climbed back into the car.

Then our next stop was BiMart, where mom needed to pick up a prescription. BiMart doesn't have a motorized cart, so I asked her if she could walk. She insisted that she could, and she would sit on the bench by the pharmacy while she waited. Then back out to the car, and she wanted to go to Sherms to shop for protein, and she said that because they have motorized carts it would not be too much for her. We got hamburger, precooked turkey bacon and precooked chicken breast, brauschweiger, cheese curds, and even a package of beef jerky.

From there we went to H&R Block. Mom had collected the last of the paperwork needed for them to finish her tax returns, and she had an appointment at 2pm. She was getting kind of wobbly on her feet, but she made her way in and sat there for about a half hour while her accountant finished. Mom signed her returns, wrote a check to Oregon, and then we were done.

Then we headed back to the lab to get the blood draw, but this time I went in ahead to scout it out and found a sign saying that the lab was closed for a meeting and to come back at 3:30. So we headed over to some other lab and found that it had a sign on the door saying that as of November 2010 it was closed until further notice. So our last option was the hospital, and mom had a lot to say about "the old ladies" who take forever to check you in. But we got mom into a wheelchair, took her back to the lab and then parked in the waiting room where mom dozed off in the wheelchair. Finally they brought her in and did the blood draw, then we wheeled back to the car and mom struggled back in for about the hundredth time.

We got home at 4:15, and it didn't take much to convince her to just sit down in her green chair and let me bring her a little protein snack, after which she fell sound asleep. Later on she ate a small dinner of a teeny chicken sandwich followed by some ice cream (which Dr. B had recommended).