22 October 2013: Tuesday ... Dad took a fall and he poo-pooed it and said he wasn't hurt, only a matter of time ... be glad when Doug gets here

WARNING FALL -- I was cleaning the bathroom floor around the toilet when I heard the thud and went quickly into mom's room to find dad on the floor. He'd fallen by the chair in the corner and had bumped his head against the closet, said mom. He took his time and I helped him, a little bit, to stand. He went to the corner to sit down and later went into mom's bathroom. 

Called Doug to dad's ire and am looking forward to his arrival on Thursday. Can't come soon enough as we have to be looking at hospice now to have someone, in addition to me, to watch him and help him. He is so frail now and yet still defiant. I just need to be understanding and not be cross with him. He's in a foreign place and he's angry. 

Listening to Don Quixote (Opus 35) by Richard Strauss with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy, recorded on February 24, 1940 with Emanuel Feuermann, cello (Don Quixote); Samuel Lifschey, first violist (Sanchio Panza); and Alexander Hilsberg concertmaster of the orchestra.
  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSlO68ewLMk&app=desktop

Dad left the room to go downstairs. I have kept the YouTube audio file running. The piece is over 38 minutes long.

Just posted a link from an e-mail, The Daily Digg, about a Canadian jet that is quieter and more fuel efficient than any of the more talked about jets made by Boeing (Dreamliner) and Airbus (????). The company is Bombardier, Inc. and the plane is:http://www.canadianbusiness.com/companies-and-industries/shhhhh/



Just got off the phone with Jerry Fincannon (706-722-4818) at the Insurance Center in Augusta and canceled my policy on the Dodge Neon. He will send me a form to sign and later we will learn if I get a remittance from overpayment.

"It's the same thing (Vicodin)," he tells me, "it's generic", after I retrieve the yellow (not white) pills on the living room table. He takes them quickly, swallowing them down with Ensure (thankful calorie intake).


Did one bag of mulching and had to repair the strap on the bag. The reason ... here's my FB post of a few minutes ago:

"BAD DOG SULKS: Dancer hates this new leaf mulcher and has performed some skulduggery during the night. I was getting ready to mulch and noticed the bag's strap had come undone, no, it was torn in two places, no again, it had been chewed apart. 

Looking to my left, there was the culprit, head bowed and repentant. She knew what she'd done and knew that I'd found out. It is an easy repair and no problem but I have one smart dog, as most pet owners can attest. The bag will no longer be within her mandible grasp. LMAO, later."

Remarkable afternoon appointment of people, a meaningful and worthwhile appointment and prescription, and a former patient ... so much to document but it is time to shut down the computer to let dad sleep or try to and me to head onto mom's room, but this was an amazing time and I need to document it. 

Just a great, though lengthy (the place was packed), eye appointment for dad. The news: he's getting progressive lenses and the order is in. Seven days and he should be able to give them a test look-see. If he can't handle the combo of distant and close-up lenses, they can be changed. 

Amazing, this is his first eye prescription change in just 72 or so years. Hopefully, it means better vision. A small but vital need as his condition worsens. So far, though, so good. He's had a good day. He made it to the eye doctor, HURRAY!

Now for the synchronicity post compiled on a sheet of copy paper offered to me in the office of Delaware Ophthalmology Consultants nearing the end of our visit as dad was talking to the optician, Jamie Horisk (?) about his progressives' prescription. It began as the following and I will itemize each event as it occurred in this extraordinary visit to the eye doctor, Dr. Ralph Milner.

1. No place to park in the entire Limestone Medical Center, so there was one place, a handicapped one, closest to the office and I took it and used the expired tag (7/19) on the rear view mirror (it worked though I was concerned while we waited a long time in the office that someone would ticket or tow our vehicle ... didn't happen, whew!);
2. A signer and a deaf teenager engage in ASL at the entrance to the eye office, later, I talk to the grandmother who tells me that the deaf child is her granddaughter and that she has had a cochlear implant but that she only hears "environmental sounds like sirens and jackhammers, et al.". She knows some signs but not a lot. Her granddaughter still does not speak but can sign well and can, I believe, read lips but not sure. Before long, they are called in and the grandma adds that in addition to hearing loss, her grandbaby also has a vision issue;
3. A woman knitting sits next to me, she is invested in her work but can carry on a conversation while doing her craft at the same time -- looks difficult but she does it with ease -- later in the back waiting area, I learn that she is knitting a cowl (a neck wraparound) and I also learn about  gaiter, something worn around the food (???), but I will look up images on the Web and show in this doc. She was just an amazingly kind and generous person. You pick that up, immediately, in her demeanor, her sense of calm as she knits and talks and laughs about events in her life, she has a spontaneity and light that illuminates all around her;
   
    
                                                  A cowl.                                       A gaiter.
4. The ophthalmologic tech was just wonderful and worked impressively checking dad's vision prior to the arrival of Dr. Milner, who did similar checks only more extensive ... it all resulted in a new prescription for glasses, correction for his distance and close-up needs, a progressive lens or bifocal;
5. In the office dad meets, as he does often, one of his former patients. This couple is special. They mirror his age and they have children our age ... two boys in their 50s and so unfortunate, a daughter who died of multiple sclerosis. Sybil St. Clair is a survivor though as she praises dad and consoles her ailing husband, Robert, who is using a walker. She has a cane to assist her walking, but just total sincerity in her dealing with dad and dad is equally touched by this meeting. So nice to see.; and
6. He gets the info on his progressive from a nice, young woman optician, Jamie Horisk (?), who explains the details of cost and the change in seeing through a progressive and possible pitfalls. The due date for completion of the lenses is 7 days and if they don't work out, changes can be made. She is kind and forthcoming. We are hopeful. This is dad's first prescription change in over 70 years, when he was 12 years of age. Just incredible.