A Big Week of Testing at the Hospital for Mom

Monday, April 13, 2026

Well, this is the week Mom has her tests. Her big day is tomorrow. She has a CT scan and also a Carotid Ultrasound and meets with a surgeon and another heart specialist that work together to see if she is eligible for the TAVR valve replacement.

She has had a lot of instructions which started today about drinking water, and what days specifically she has to stop taking meds and when she can start them again. And no caffeine after midnight. So I have alerts set on my phone to remind her of these things each day. I’m not very good at being my brain and also someone else’s brain – when mine is not the best in the world. But I’m trying to remind her of everything.

We have an all day trip tomorrow into Nashville and at Centennial. I will call and make sure she is awake. I’ll be packing a back pack full of water, snacks, book, charger for phone and iPad, maybe even underwear and an extra shirt, face wash and some light makeup, and a comb, in case they decide to keep her overnight after they look at her heart. I’m trying to think of the minimum of what would make me most comfortable if we have to stay.

I have been working on a vlog for a future declutter vlog. I have been editing some. Did my Devo, World Bible School, cleaned the kitchen, paid a bill of Mom’s, cleaned some, changed my sheets and folded some laundry from the dryer. I have also been working on a password project converting everything over to Bitwarden. LastPass has had some problems and a security breach and I had some issues with them even before that, so I’m glad I’m done with them and I deleted my account. It wouldn’t take my master password which scared me. I finally got in and wrote all my PW’s down again on a pad and now I’m entering them in Bitwarden at about 10 a day. It was the only way I could get this done is to break it down daily. I’ve had this on the list since probably last October.

I’m hoping to fix some popcorn and read here in a few but I need to finish editing this video all the way through though, if I can since we’ll be gone tomorrow.

Wednesday, April 15, 2026

Well we had a big day of appointments and tests at Centennial Hospital for Mom. It was a hard day for her. We got a wheel chair because it was too much walking and her foot was hurting her. It’s the foot that swells up from time to time. The wheel chair got us around so much better.

The imaging department was having a time yesterday. They were running about 3 hours behind schedule, much to horror and we had to have 2 tests done. But everyone handled it well.

Mom didn’t feel like being there but she pushed through. We were there from about 11:15 to 5:00 or something like that. The last doctor was kind enough to wait on us so we didn’t have to come back, knowing that imaging was having an issue. We were so appreciative to not have to reschedule that last appointment since imaging made us miss the appointment as originally scheduled.

Afterwards we went home and fed the dogs. We rolled the windows down in the car and Mom enjoyed the nice breeze while we took the dogs out and fed them and then we headed out to In and Out Burger to let Mom try them out. They are new to TN area. Mom needed to go to the restroom.

What happens next needs a big bowl of popcorn and your favorite drink. And then hang on tight.

I told Mom not to lock the stall b/c I was right there and that way if she needed help to stand I’d be able to get to her.

<Insert door lock noise here> 🙄

Yep she locked the door.

<Insert waiting music here> 🎶. Mom can’t get up off the toilet and put weight needed on her foot to get up because the toilets were so low to the ground.

A few minutes later…..I dug my keys out of my purse and an ink pen trying to pry open the stall door lock, but I only got it slid over enough to where I couldn’t reach it and it was still locked.

I tried to jiggle it open from there, but a screw fell off the door handle – oooops!

So I had to go tell George we were having some issues so he wouldn’t worry. And then I ran into an In and Out Burger Employee, and I told her Mom was stuck on the toilet and I couldn’t get the door unlocked to get to her to help her. I asked her if she had a little bitty employee that might crawl under and open the latch and then I could get to her. So the employee said she’d be right back. Bless her.

In the mean time, my purse fell over and that made the water sensor go off and water began to pour into my purse and onto our phones. 😳 I had to rescue them as well and dry them off and all the contents in my purse. Subsequently I was also soaked with water in the front of my pants which looked like I’d pee’d all over myself.

Then the employee came back in with a pole or mop, and almost hit Mom in the head with the mop end of it as she was bobbin’ the thing up and down trying to leverage it to get to the lock. lol. But she was able to get it open. I was thankful to be able to get to Mom who couldn’t get up mainly b/c of her foot hurting her and she couldn’t put weight on the foot. So I got her up and we laughed as I helped Mom pull her pants up from around her ankles as she was so disoriented at that point she could not pull her pants up. We were laughing because she had been in a rush to dress at the testing center -that she had put her pants on backwards. Her pockets were facing the other way, lol. I told her no one would know as she had a jacket on. We got her up and out and finally was able to order our burgers and enjoy it and then we took her home.

I will never ever look at In and Out Burger the same. NEVER. But it all worked out. And don’t you know that the employee will never forget it, lol. I’m sure she filled in her coworkers immediately and proceeded to tell her family when she got home. I might have done the same with a few texts here and there. As one family member put it – it was like a scene from I love Lucy. lol

WE are NOT making fun of Mom but We DID laugh at the situation. I mean how can you NOT? And what really tops it off for me is seeing the employee with a mop putting it in Mom’s stall and the water pouring into my purse and then Mom having her pants on backwards. I don’t know. You really can’t make this stuff up. And you might as well share it, so that we can all laugh now that it is over.

Thursday, April 16

How did we get here already this far into the week? Mom’s wheelchair came in yesterday and George pulled it out of the box. I sat in it and it’s easy to maneuver for self use and I know from using the hospital one that I can push Mom in it with no problem. That is the good news.

The bad news is that I will be unable to lift it in/out of the car. I have a rotator cuff that does not allow me to lift anything heavy AT ALL. The slightest thing will mean pain a few hours later. I don’t have a warning signal at the time I’m lifting, but it lets me know after the fact and then I’m mad at myself and/or wondering what I’ve done to it. Taking groceries for example, irritates it. Even lifting my big water cup full of water at times can irritate it. It’s been this way for a while. I think I originally hurt it while pulling a suit case off the airline turn table where you pick up your bags. So all that said, unless George goes with us, the wheel chair can’t be used. Or we will have to stand there til someone passes by that we can ask for help. As an introvert, that is not much of an option I wish to have. I hate asking for help, depending on others, or bothering other people.

Bottom line, it is just getting harder and harder to take Mom anywhere as the walker just isn’t doing the trick when she can’t walk well WITH the walker. It makes me nervous. I just can’t lift on her and I’m afraid she is going to fall or something will happen.

The doc called and we have our date next week for her test to check her arteries for blockages to make sure they can have access to her heart to put the valve in. They only sedate lightly and not put them to sleep for this test. She can even eat that morning. We will be there about six hours though. This time it’s not in Nashville so I’m not going to ask George to go with us. I wish he would though but I’m not going to ask him. I wish he would offer. lol. But I’ll be fine I think and there’s no point in him having to go and sit for six hours.

I will see if we can take the wheel chair. George can put it in the car. I can use my left hand and gravity to get it out and we’ll be at the entrance where a lot of people are including a valet stand so maybe we can get help getting the thing in the car when we leave. I guess if I stand there in the way blocking the valet line someone will eventually help lol. I hate this.

Had a pretty good night’s sleep last night. However, when we got up and took the dogs out, Maddie decided to roll in fresh poop and had six inches of it all down her side. So before I could even get coffee made this morning I had to give her a bath. It was quite the set up. I just can’t lean over the tub anymore very well, but what I did was put the laundry basket in the tub and put her in that. Since it had holes in the side it didn’t fill up but at the bottom about 4 inches tall water could accumulate which was perfect – just enough to scoop water and have her stand in a little bit of water. I used Pantene shampoo on her, as it’s gentle and will be good for her hair. She actually seemed to enjoy it and let me do it without trying to get out. I to sit on the floor on my knees and had a pillow that I used under my knees and that worked well. I used the cat food scooper as my cup, lol. So for not having coffee yet, I was happy with myself for figuring all that out. And was able to get up off the floor with the help of the side of the bathtub, due to my yoga mat practice and getting up and down from floor once a week or so.

Once I got her out of the tub, and partially dried, Maddie went nuts doing zoomies. Dexter was amused at her energy levels when he and George came in from their walk. You could see it in his face as if he was thinking “Good Grief, what has gotten into her this morning?” I still had to make coffee and their breakfast.

Mom and I are going to get our nails done and I am officially nervous about it. She is just not really able to get out much anymore and I’m wondering if she should NOT get dip, and get regular polish or even no polish and just do a basic manicure. And before that I have to decide where to go. And do we use the wheel chair. Probably not as George has to attach the feet to it. I hope he will. I’m not much of a mechanic and no good with tools so he’s the likely candidate to do that. I think we will just have the walker this morning and if she can’t walk we probably will just turn around and go home b/c I won’t know what else to do.

I feel like crying because I feel like her enjoyment of life and even getting out of the house, is just too hard for her – it’s even hard for me because it’s just getting harder for me to handle and in some cases I won’t be able to handle – someone else will have to assist. So now when we get out there is just a big question mark as to what is going to happen. After In/Out Burger, I’m scared.

I’m filming my video this week on Taking Care of an Aging Parent – things that surprised me. It’s been an excellent week to film this. It’s things I don’t normally talk about I guess. I’ve mentioned the care giving quite frequently. I think it may have even annoyed someone as a viewer said something like “good grief, every other word out of your mouth is about your mother”. Well, it’s probably true as our life is very consumed with all things Mom. I do her finances, pay her bills, make her appointments, buy her groceries, check on her daily, am her taxi, see to her taxes, her personal shopper, involved in her medical care, apply for her grants, assess her overall care and well being, am now involved in her prescriptions. So yes, it’s like having another person in our immediate family that just lives 20 min away. So yes, every other word and every other thought is about Mom and it’s been that way for quite a few years now as I’m the one that is involved in her care and trying to do what the Lord has asked us to do, to honor our parents and to take care of the widows, which she is.

I have a few things I need to do this morning before going to get Mom for today’s adventure. So I need to get on with it and I hope today goes well. I’m kinda scared.

Friday, April 17

So we got our nails done and toes yesterday. It went well except that Mom did not feel like eating out so we just went to Chic Fil A drive through and ate in the car. And she did ok getting our nails done and then I took her home. She didn’t really feel like going. She took my advice to get regular polish instead of the dip because they may have to remove it for her procedure Monday and also we don’t know how she is going to feel in the upcoming days and if we’ll be able to get her back to have the dip removed. Hopefully the test on Monday will not reveal any blockages and will hopefully be able to determine that she can move forward with the heart valve replacement to find her some relief.

I guess I will pack another backpack on Monday morning for Monday’s 6 hour stay in the hospital with Mom having this heart catheter. I will need to take a book, phone chargers, iPad and possibly things to stay overnight in case they decide not to release her yet, snacks, water, etc.

George and I dropped off some things for Good Will where I’ve been going through some things and getting rid of them. We went to lunch at Surchero’s and then went to Costco today for a few things, and then brought the Costco things in to the fridge and went to Publix to get the rest of the groceries. I bought a few things to fix lasagna. I’m cooking tonight. Sunday I plan to make Orzo Salad and we’ll have it with a lamb roast Sunday night.

I have spent a lot of my time lately talking to the nurses with Mom’s doctor’s ahead of all the tests and procedures lately. Of course right in the middle of us running errands, they were calling and we played phone tag. But finally we were able to talk and I had to connect Mom in on a 3 way call b/c I don’t always know how to answer all the health questions. I didn’t want to get it wrong. I wish we had a $1 for every time we have had to answer what meds she takes. I am typing up the list and keeping it in my billfold. I DID take pics of most of them so that has helped. But I want to be able to just list them off. I think there are 7 meds total.

Tomorrow, Saturday, is a day at home. But I have a lot planned on Saturday as always. I plan the following week’s goals and appointments and plug everything in the iPhone reminder list, do some exercising, promote the video, do some meal planning of what I want to fix, do some housework, laundry, set up the next video in the timeline, respond to YouTube comments, and I have some specific things I try to catch up on from the week that I have not done yet.

Sunday I’ll need to get a lot done on the next video because I will be out of pocket Monday, perhaps beyond.

I’m a little frustrated that I’m not getting more accomplished and further down the road on some of my goals recently. I think my brain wants to do things based on a 24 hour day instead of 10-11. I do get down time in like reading, watching some YouTube, and time with George. But I’m longing to do more writing, working a puzzle, finding time to do some extra work on the YouTube front, making bread, making earrings, working on photo projects, scrapbooking, etc. I guess I just have some glass ceilings in retirement – just like you do in the work career. You have to figure out how to break out of the scenario and the routine or just suck it up and go with the flow. I’ve chosen the latter, for way too long. But it’s ok, we’ll just ride the flow. Mom is taking a lot more time now and that is ok. I’m on calls and such and having to be more involved with a lot that is going on so all the other things are just on hold. It’s fine, I just mainly get frustrated with the whole “time” scenario and blame it on myself for not figuring it out already.

I’m doing fine but if I’m being honest, I have had moments this week of frustration a little bit. I mean after all I keep rolling the same 30 things over week to week and can’t get any traction on some things I want to do. After doing that for 8 or 10 weeks in a row you just start to wonder if I will ever get to these things, or if it’s just a long standing dream to do something as simple as make bread or work a puzzle. I could ignore reading and ignore watching a show, but I want to do that too, lol. And then YouTube – just the basic week of it all keeps me more than busy. Ok I’ll quit complaining. I don’t mean to. I’d just like to see a little bit of progress, which is hard to see unless you are looking at a quarterly or half year basis. Ok I need to post this and get on with finishing the laundry since we were gone today and also need to start working on the lasagna.

Hope you all have a great week ahead and I will appreciate your prayers for Mom and that she will be a candidate for the TAVR valve replacement as her heart is winding down and she is miserable. And I’m trying to decide what to vlog about next week. I want it to be simple and I’m thinking I’ll do “Afternoon Routines in Retirement”. I have talked a lot in the recent themed vlogs and I need a break but I can just have the camera follow me along for the week and just have fun chats without having to plan my thoughts in advance. I need a fun vlog and no big theme. I’m spent this week. Thanks everyone.