How NOT to Move to the Front of the Line

FINALLY! Mom has been here the required 30 days, and we had all of her paperwork in place to get her Texas ID. She's been waiting for this day, because she couldn't even open a bank account without ID, and she had let her NM drivers license expire before she moved.

The DPS opens at 8:00 a.m., so I suggested that we get there by 7:30 so we could be in the front of the line. Silly me! We did, indeed, get there by 7:30 - maybe a little before 7:30, actually - but there were between 40 and 45 people ahead of us, waiting for the doors to open. By the time they opened, there were another 25 people behind us in line.

Mom waited in the car and I held her place in line. When I was near the door, she came and joined me. Once inside we took our number and looked for a place to sit down. A nice lady offered to let Mom have her chair. As Mom started to navigate the row, another woman tried to move out of her way, but, instead, ended up accidentally tripping her, and Mom fell down. A young man jumped up and helped break her fall. I was so grateful to him, because she could have hit her head, but didn't. She was wearing a bracelet, which got shoved up her arm and peeled a large patch of skin back, but she didn't break or sprain anything. Since she takes coumadin, we knew we needed to control the bleeding. An off-duty fireman/EMT quickly came to her aid. The DPS provided a small first aid kit, which had some bandage material in it. Someone else had some tape. Besides the EMT, there was a doctor from Scott and White (I think someone said she was a surgeon) and a phlebotomist there. So we had lots of attention and help from several good Samaritans.

Once she was bandaged up, we sat down to get our breath - and to wait for our number to come up. But one of the clerks came and took all of Mom's paperwork while we stayed in our seats, did most of the processing, and then came to get her for her picture. That's one way to move to the front of a long line, but not a way that I'd suggest!

Our Good Samaritan - an off-duty fireman and EMT - who came to Mom's aid. 

We ended up going to the Urgent Care clinic. The doctor there repositioned the skin over the spot and used an adhesive glue to seal the edges, then re-bandaged it. Poor Mom. She was really shaken up (and so was I), but was relieved to finally have a Texas ID in her possession. Mom will be seeing Stoney Brook's house doctor tomorrow to follow up, but as of this evening she tells me she's doing fine.

Keeping Up With Clara

Clara has been waiting all summer - and so have we - for a visit to Grandma's and Grandpa's! Finally we found a couple of days that were free on both families' calendars. I drove to Somerville on Sunday afternoon and met Kelsey and Clara there. Somerville is about half way for both of us, so it has become convenient for our kid-exchanges.

It was a short visit, but we tried to fit in all the fun we could.

Sunday evening Clara kept herself occupied with the Legos from Grandma's toy box. She just got back from a big California vacation which included a visit to Lego Land, so there seemed to be a renewed interest in them.

On Monday morning Grandpa's physical therapist (for his new knee), Kimberly, came to the house. Clara enjoy meeting Kimberly and loved watching her take Grandpa's blood pressure, temperature and oxygen count, and then put him through his exercise routine. She even joined in for a few of the exercises.

Monday afternoon we baked cookies and put them in little baggies, which Clara decorated with stickers, and took them over to Nanny's (my Mom's) new home at Stoney Brook. While we were there, we walked around with Nanny, and Clara handed out cookies to all of Nanny's new friends. Clara loved Stoney Brook. She thought it was beautiful and said she wants to move in. She was especially impressed with the concept of someone doing all of the cleaning, cooking and laundry for the residents. (Of course, I think Clara has someone doing most of that for her already - right Kelsey?)

After dinner on Monday, Grandpa started teaching Clara how to play chess. She did a good job of catching onto how the pieces move, and said she was excited to have another lesson sometime soon. 

Tuesday was shopping day. We bought a new school dress and, since there were end-of-season sales going on for the summer clothes, we got a pretty summer sun-dress, too. It was big enough that it should be fine for next summer as well as for the remaining summer days this year.

We also went to Hobby Lobby and picked up a few things, including a set of bathroom fixtures for Clara's dollhouse. 

In between everything else, we did a lot of art projects, including some paintings and a magazine collage. I was really happy to have some original art work from Clara and have already framed it  so I can display it in the house. 

This is Clara's Water Series . . . Jellyfish, Sunset at the Beach, and Fish Bowl

And we worked a puzzle. Clara was eager to put the edge pieces together, but lost interest as we worked on the interior ones. However, she found one thing fascinating about this particular puzzle. It was made by the Yankee Candle Co., and some of the pieces were shaped like little candle jars, and had scratch-n-sniff scents on them! Not only that, but near the center was a large jar shape formed from several pieces. When we finished the puzzle, Clara had fun removing all of the "jars."

 Somewhere in all of the busy-ness of these two days, we also took a trip to Kiddo Kingdom to play on the bouncy houses. I didn't think Clara would have much fun there, since she didn't have a friend (or brother) to play with, and since she is getting older, but she told me, "I make friends anywhere, Grandma!" And so she did! She ran and bounced and made friends for about an hour and a half.

Tuesday night we made up a batch of home-made strawberry ice cream - Clara chopped up and mashed up the strawberries and helped measure everything - and had it for an evening dessert. Yum!

On Wednesday I drove her back to Somerville, where Kelsey and Robert met us. We all had lunch together before saying our good-byes. (Robert's lunch of choice: a Frito sandwich! Ha!)

A Matched Set of Knees for Dan

It's early morning of day two following Dan's second total knee replacement. I'll be trying to start his day off right by taking him his morning Americano, from Starbuck's, a little later this morning.

Thursday was a long day. We checked into the hospital at 7:30 a.m. At about 9:40 they took him up to the operating room, and I settled down in a corner of the family waiting area. Scott & White does a good job of keeping the family posted. They have a screen that shows each patient (by an anonymous number, not by name) and a green line that indicates the progress and the estimated time until the surgery will be completed. They also make calls to the desk, with messages for the family such as, "Surgery has begun and everything is going well."

Despite their efforts, the wait is hard and always seems longer than it really is. I was so thankful to have our preacher and friend, Rodney, show up right after Dan had gone to the OR and stay with me the entire time. Good conversation really helps pass the time!

At 11:45 I was told that the surgery was finished, and that Dr. Allen would meet me in Conference Room A. Rodney went with me for that, as well, and we learned that everything had gone well. "He had a lot of damage in the knee, but we took care of it, and now he has a matched set of new knees." Dan was in the recovery room, and would be there, the doctor said, for an hour or two.

Since I wouldn't be able to see him for at least an hour, I took the opportunity to dash out and get a bite of lunch. As it turned out, I didn't need to "dash", because they didn't have a room available, so he stayed in Recovery until one was ready for him, at 3:00.

Dan was still in an anesthesia-fog when I left him for the night, around 7:30 p.m. He kept saying, "I can't get out of this fog!" And I was telling him just to enjoy it.

The next morning (yesterday) the fog was gone and he was in a lot of pain - much more pain than he had experienced with the first knee, back in May. The staff worked with him all day, trying to keep the pain under control, and were able to take the edge off, but never got him very comfortable. What really brightened up his day was a visit from Kelsey, Clara and Robert. They were on their way back to Houston, after visiting Kelsey's folks in Pecos, and stopped for an hour or so to see Grandpa. I went and got Mom, so she could be part of the "party" as well.

Afterward, while I was taking Mom back home, Dan's doctor came and made some adjustments to his medications, which we hope will help with the pain and keep him a little more comfortable. I will find out how that worked when I get there in a couple hours, with his morning coffee.