A visit to the doctor

Thursday morning I took Mom to her eye specialist so he could exam her right eye. That is the eye that was affected by shingles in April 2007. She had forgotten to bring her regular eyeglasses, so the vision test was a bit iffy. Despite that, she did fairly well and they went ahead with dilating her eyes. Dr. Carroll examined her after the technician had done all the other tests and entered the data into her record. She did well...and won't have to return for another year.

She got his ok to discontinue the Neurotin...or as Mom's calls them...her "orange pills". She stopped taking them a couple of weeks ago. Originally this medication was intended to help alleviate the pain from the shingles. Mom feels that the pills actually give her a headache now. She feels good about having to take one less pill..and has started talking about discontinuing all her medication. I think her fear of death with override her issues with taking medication....but time will tell. She made a great impression on the technician and the doctor. She is a spunky, feisty woman who wants to remain in control of her life for as long as she can manage it. My job is to help her maintain her life and keep her safe. Sometimes, that is easy and sometimes it isn't.

After her appointment we went to breakfast and did some grocery shopping. My brother Mark called when we were finishing up and said he would meet us as Mom's place in a few minutes. Mom was so glad and surprised to see him...he had said he wouldn't be around for the entire week. The strange thing that I observed is that Mom called Mark by our Dad's name and as she went towards him, he freaked out and moved out of her path completely. It is clear that he doesn't want any physical contact with her. He looks like a heavier version of my Dad...so of course my Mom is drawn to him. It would be nice if he could try and be a little affectionate...but he doesn't have that ability to be close to Mom. I left them to have some lunch together and took off for work.