Way Too Tired

Wacky Legs Don't Work Right

Very tired today.  I took my Mom to see her gallbladder surgeon to be released from her post surgery restrictions and for him to visualize her incisions and say they are healing fine (they were).  This only took five minutes.  We were scheduled in the morning.  I thought we will go get this done, come home, and I will whip into work.  Uh uh...was not in the cards today.

We got there ahead of time and waited and waited and waited and waited.  I was so tired I fell asleep in the waiting room.  Finally we got called back into an exam room.  Then we waited and waited and waited for the five minute exam.  The surgeon must have had emergency surgery or something that morning because he was running WAY late.  If they had just told us, go out get a snack, come back around one and he'll see you then I would not have been so aggravated, but since I was so sleepy aggravated took way too much energy.  We got out of exam room limbo around one thirty in the afternoon.  Augh!!!

Then I took Mom shopping for a bath chair.  I had been having a hard time getting Mom to take showers lately.  She has had several small strokes, and has COPD, and apparently has been having panic attacks in the shower and not telling me.  I happened to be making her bed while she took a shower last night and heard her crying and hyperventilating in the shower.  I went in and put a chair in the shower for her to sit in because she was shaking so much and helped her finish washing her hair, etc., and got her dried off with a towel.  She kept saying she couldn't breathe, but she was hyperventilating because she was panicking.  I sat and had a long long talk with her about how she needed to let me know if she was frightened by things like showers or the dark or doctors. 

She had not realized she was having anxiety attacks - she thought the shower was exhausting her and taking her breath away.  I told her that we would get a bath chair with a back and instead of having showers in a claustrophobically small corner shower, she could sit in the bathtub in the other bathroom and use the hand held shower.   I told her I would schedule which days we would do this, and I would blow dry her hair for her if she was too tired to do her hair afterwards.  I told her any steam would dissipate out in the bathroom not like in an enclosed shower stall.  Hoping this will help with the panic.

I drove Mom to the doctor, I walked into the clinic and back with her, and we strolled around Walgreens and CVS pharmacy before finding the ideal bath chair.  Then we drove home.  It was four o-clock in the afternoon by the time I got home.  No work today. Big Sigh.  Mom did like the candy aisle at Walgreens so now we have a big assortment of her favorite candies.  She is such a little lady she could eat candy all day with her regular meals and the extra calories could only help!

I am finding even my cane BLING is not helping on walking expeditions. I spent my evening on the couch in extreme pain in the pelvic area, lower back, and legs. My feet started cramping and then my legs. I ate some oranges thinking maybe I am low on potassium, but it didn't seem to help the muscle cramps, so I am guessing it's not low potassium. Sigh

I need to build some endurance so I drive to work with less pain. The increased dosage of fentanyl (25 mcg/hr) is helping with the constant pain and some of the break through pain, but it does nothing for the type of pain I had this evening (and am still having).  Maybe Dr. House will figure it out in April??  I can only hope.

Its 2 am and the pain is still bad in The Legs.  The Headache decided to try to wake up this evening also - probably due to increased walking also.  I hope Mom is not too tired or in too much pain.  She took a nap and then got up for a while and went back to bed at her usual time of 9:00.   I hope to get to work tomorrow, I have things that need fixing and people to help!   Just need to get my jump jiving legs to be still and quit hurting and wailing!!!

I am going to try to pace myself per Diana Lee's post at Somebody Heal Me "Pacing: Just Three Things".  She suggests just picking three tasks you know you can complete each day so you don't end up over tired or overwhelmed.  I think I need to draw up a list of tasks by fatigue level so it will be easier to pick!!!

PS sorry for the advertisement from YouTube if it pops up - its the official video of The Brian Setzer Orchestra perfoming Jump Jive an' Wail and I guess they need the extra income from the ads???