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Monday: productive? Wow, cannot remember.
Tuesday: afternoon was spent with my parents at an surreal and time consuming appointment. At the UNC Cancer hospital they ask you to show up 30 minutes in advance. Then we were called for the appointment 30 min late. So, an hour spent hanging out with my parents is valuable, but not planned. Next, the resident explained that they were puzzled why we were there because Mom doesn't have cancer, and they do cancer. We spent probably an hour with the resident and then the doctor who did Mom's first biopsy.
Thinking this was where we would be told about the pulmonary fibrosis, i had written a note to the doctors noting the critical nature of Mom continuing to engage in stroke rehabilitation and , assuming pulmonary fibrosis, could they not dwell on the finality of it. I am delighted with how well they took the note and how much they talked up the rehab work and getting stronger. Having sent the note, there was then a subtext conversation going on between me and the doctors. "I know that you know...." They encouraged us to see the correct specialists in the next few months, which i heard as, "Yes, it's fibrosis, and yes, it's serious." Dad pushed a little and they mentioned that a common diagnosis was idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (idiopathic becausse there isn't a known cause for why her lungs have scared up). They mentioned there was medication to slow the progression, and that some people "don't bother" due to the side effects. If Dad really heard the "no cure" and "slow progression" and saw the implications or not, i don't know.
Mom left feeling great. Yay! No cancer! (Which we had known.)
I left feeling like they had given strong indications that mom (likely) has a fatal diagnosis. On the other hand, if it were me, i would be relieved at having a diagnosis that could take effect and not leave me lingering in a dementia twilight, with the possibility of more strokes making me dependent on others for bodily care. But i can't tell how well Mom can think through things with the dementia in place.
Christine's brother has recently been given a memory loss diagnosis and is receiving Alzheimer's medications. Their mother died of complications from Alzheimer's, and Christine fears getting it herself. It doesn't help that this is the sibling from whom she is most estranged.
Wednesday i worked from Mom & Dad's. Dad had forgotten that Mom had a physical therapy appointment and it threw him for a bit of a loop: i recognize the way a small perturbation can cause outsized distress from my own wrestlings. He ended up only going grocery shopping and not taking the boat out.
I brought over to them a "pre-ferment" for making sourdough rye waffles. Dad added the egg and salt but not the baking soda when he made them for lunch. I thought they were quite good, Dad would have preferred them to be harder and more cracker-like. I had added sugar per the recipe, but it wasn't particularly sweet. They were delicious with fresh tomato from my sister's and my garden, mayo, salt, and pepper.
I off loaded many large slicing tomatoes to them. I'm trying to get ahead of my garden as i will be out of town Monday through Friday next week.
Yesterday: i took the bread pre-ferment that had been bubbling since Wednesday early and the rye berries i'd soaked, and made bread loaves. This time i remembered to let them rise. That makes a big difference! I didn't add malt or sunflower seeds, but did add caraway (or fennel seed, not sure which), coriander from the garden, and molasses. Next time i think letting the rye sprout even more would be good. The loaves baked beautifully, although they spread out horizontally a bit more than rising up. I may use a bread pan resting on the baking stone next time to see about a more square loaf.
This morning the loaf end with cream cheese is delightful.
Work was busy, and i had a little headache.
We've had a touch of rain that has filled the bottom of the tank. That's gratifying.
I have started binging on season two of Once Upon A Time (still using fast forward occasionally).
I set up an Acurite weather monitoring system and hooked it into WeatherUnderground. I don't know why, when this page finishes loading, the temperature changes from the correct value to some confusing representation (Celsius, but the interface thinks it's F, so it shows the temperature as blue? Went away when i logged in.) I've wanted a weather station for a long time, so i finally splurged.
I also splurged on a new lens for my camera. I was testing it last night, and tried to use the flash -- and i think my camera's flash shorted out taking the memory of all the camera settings with it.
I am a little terrified but the camera seems to at least take photos still, so i'll troubleshoot eventually.
Tuesday: afternoon was spent with my parents at an surreal and time consuming appointment. At the UNC Cancer hospital they ask you to show up 30 minutes in advance. Then we were called for the appointment 30 min late. So, an hour spent hanging out with my parents is valuable, but not planned. Next, the resident explained that they were puzzled why we were there because Mom doesn't have cancer, and they do cancer. We spent probably an hour with the resident and then the doctor who did Mom's first biopsy.
Thinking this was where we would be told about the pulmonary fibrosis, i had written a note to the doctors noting the critical nature of Mom continuing to engage in stroke rehabilitation and , assuming pulmonary fibrosis, could they not dwell on the finality of it. I am delighted with how well they took the note and how much they talked up the rehab work and getting stronger. Having sent the note, there was then a subtext conversation going on between me and the doctors. "I know that you know...." They encouraged us to see the correct specialists in the next few months, which i heard as, "Yes, it's fibrosis, and yes, it's serious." Dad pushed a little and they mentioned that a common diagnosis was idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (idiopathic becausse there isn't a known cause for why her lungs have scared up). They mentioned there was medication to slow the progression, and that some people "don't bother" due to the side effects. If Dad really heard the "no cure" and "slow progression" and saw the implications or not, i don't know.
Mom left feeling great. Yay! No cancer! (Which we had known.)
I left feeling like they had given strong indications that mom (likely) has a fatal diagnosis. On the other hand, if it were me, i would be relieved at having a diagnosis that could take effect and not leave me lingering in a dementia twilight, with the possibility of more strokes making me dependent on others for bodily care. But i can't tell how well Mom can think through things with the dementia in place.
Christine's brother has recently been given a memory loss diagnosis and is receiving Alzheimer's medications. Their mother died of complications from Alzheimer's, and Christine fears getting it herself. It doesn't help that this is the sibling from whom she is most estranged.
Wednesday i worked from Mom & Dad's. Dad had forgotten that Mom had a physical therapy appointment and it threw him for a bit of a loop: i recognize the way a small perturbation can cause outsized distress from my own wrestlings. He ended up only going grocery shopping and not taking the boat out.
I brought over to them a "pre-ferment" for making sourdough rye waffles. Dad added the egg and salt but not the baking soda when he made them for lunch. I thought they were quite good, Dad would have preferred them to be harder and more cracker-like. I had added sugar per the recipe, but it wasn't particularly sweet. They were delicious with fresh tomato from my sister's and my garden, mayo, salt, and pepper.
I off loaded many large slicing tomatoes to them. I'm trying to get ahead of my garden as i will be out of town Monday through Friday next week.
Yesterday: i took the bread pre-ferment that had been bubbling since Wednesday early and the rye berries i'd soaked, and made bread loaves. This time i remembered to let them rise. That makes a big difference! I didn't add malt or sunflower seeds, but did add caraway (or fennel seed, not sure which), coriander from the garden, and molasses. Next time i think letting the rye sprout even more would be good. The loaves baked beautifully, although they spread out horizontally a bit more than rising up. I may use a bread pan resting on the baking stone next time to see about a more square loaf.
This morning the loaf end with cream cheese is delightful.
Work was busy, and i had a little headache.
We've had a touch of rain that has filled the bottom of the tank. That's gratifying.
I have started binging on season two of Once Upon A Time (still using fast forward occasionally).
I set up an Acurite weather monitoring system and hooked it into WeatherUnderground. I don't know why, when this page finishes loading, the temperature changes from the correct value to some confusing representation (Celsius, but the interface thinks it's F, so it shows the temperature as blue? Went away when i logged in.) I've wanted a weather station for a long time, so i finally splurged.
I also splurged on a new lens for my camera. I was testing it last night, and tried to use the flash -- and i think my camera's flash shorted out taking the memory of all the camera settings with it.
I am a little terrified but the camera seems to at least take photos still, so i'll troubleshoot eventually.
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no subject
Yay on bread! Breadmaking is an art.
I too fear the kind of dependency that you and C do, even without the family history.
no subject
I do need to pull cheer from somewhere to head into the office. At least it is quite close.
no subject
And . . . Once Upon A Time, which I love, is all about emotional parent stuff.
*sending good wishes*
no subject
yes.
Ha. Well, that explains that!