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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday, BeThere2Day, and Sandee at Comedy Plus.
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Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and has become a moveable feast of word or picture or music prompts to encourage us to write stories, poems, or whatever strikes our fancy.
This month, the prompts are being provided by Elephant's Child.
This week's prompt includes a photo:
And for those of you whose creativity is triggered by words
- destined
- remarkable
- lure
- aware
- rules
Charlotte (MotherOwl)has selected clay brown as the colour of the month.
My client and good friend Ms. JAI, who is 87 and looks sad and worn out lately, has had a rough several months of it.
First, she has suffered from MdDS for several years. Mal de Débarquement Syndrome makes you feel like you are out at sea, rocking on the deck of a ship, while you are on dry land. There's no known cause, treatment or cure, and when she was younger she participated in research with the doctors trying to figure it out.
As is DESTINED to happen in this syndrome, her symptoms have gotten worse. Her family convinced her to sell her home of over 50 years, which broke her heart but she knew it had to be done. They wanted her in a place where caregivers could look in on her regularly, such as an apartment in an "assisted community."
She opted for a condo in an over-55 community where she'd be able to continue to do her own thing, unlet and unhindered. The LURE of the views from her condo, not having her style cramped and being among active and fit seniors who socialized but didn't mess in your business were much stronger than the idea of having to be in the kind of place they wanted for her with all the RULES and restrictions.
Then she started really getting dizzy and falling. Most of the falls resulted in her hitting her head. A few days into January, i went over to her condo to clean and she was in such pain from a fall the week before i managed to get her to call 911 so the EMTs could take her to the hospital emergency room.
Among other things, they tried to get a catheter started and couldn't. Eventually, they sent her home from ER telling her she needed to get more help around the house, especially if she's dizzy more now.
About a week after that, she got very sick and dizzy and fell, and her alert bracelet called the emergency responders. She'd hit her head again when she fell and this time had a UTI (urinary tract infection). They figured her blood pressure went down when she stood too fast and that and the UTI made her sick enough to pass out and fall.
Here's the REMARKABLE part. In all these falls and blows to the head, and even in her week in the hospital after the last fall with the UTI, not once have doctors done either an MRI or CATscan of her brain to see if she's had any damage!
They sent her off to rehab, and they haven't remarked on the lack of any check of her brain and head, either.
Every medical worker in creation should be AWARE if there is a fall and hit to the head, especially as she's had several in the past 6 months, there needs to be some kind of scan!
Anyway, this past Monday she was sprung from the rehab and sent to her condo with her daughter making arrangements to get sitters with her 24/7.
That's where i caught up with her when i went to visit on Monday. She is parked in her favorite reclining chair, the Clay Brown one, and doesn't feel much like moving.
Yesterday, i got a call from her daughter asking me if i was free to go over there for the home health nurse visit. Since it was my day off, i went.
It was quite an adventure. The sitter, being new, had a lot of questions. Daughter was on the phone most of the time the nurse was there and heard the evaluation.
Daughter hung up to get back to work right before the sitter's supervisor came, so i had to wing it and answer questions for her, which i was mostly able to do.
MS. JAI's been dizzy, nauseated especially when standing to get in the wheelchair (she can't walk at all) and the nurse took her blood pressure sitting and standing. When she stood up, her pressure went down by 40 points! It's no wonder she's dizzy and falling and nauseous. Anyone would be.
Then we realized how little food there was for Ms. JAI in the house, as she had been gone for 2 weeks and was only eating yogurt and drinking Boost.
That's how i ended up at MallMart buying groceries yesterday.
At this point, i'm just glad she has a follow up with her doctor on Friday, and her daughter will be here to take her. She's supposed to see a neurologist, whom i'm hoping will order some kind of scan.
Either way, she's not doing so well and i'm going to be visiting weekly (the sitters do housekeeping) and helping out where i can.
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Today is:
Backward Day -- no info on the origin, but if you want to do something backward, go ahead
Eat Brussels Sprouts Day -- sauté in olive oil with some garlic, they are worth it!
Eve of Brigantia -- Ireland (St. Bridget's Eve, the night when she crosses the countryside and bestows blessings)
Feast of Great Typos -- another that no one will claim inventing, but since we've all made them, we may as well celebrate them
Feast of Isis -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)
H&ll is Freezing Over Day -- internet generated day to review the list of things you said you would do when h*ll freezes over
Independence Day -- Nauru(1968)
Inspire Your Heart With the Arts Day -- begun by Rev Jayne Howard Feldman as a day to use art to feed your soul
National Brandy Alexander Day
National Bug Busting Day -- UK (this is one idea that needs export to the whole world! the aim is to have every child checked for head lice on the same day, and thus get rid of them in one fell swoop, so they don't circulate endlesslyhttp://www.national-awareness-days.com/national-bug-busting-day.html)
National Gorilla Suit Day -- Mad Magazine's Maddest Artist, Don Martin, says this is the day to pull that gorilla suit out of the closet and step out in style.
Play An Old Game You Haven’t Played in Years Night -- internet generated, and a great idea
Scotch Tape Day -- it hit the market this day in 1928
St. John Bosco's Day (Patron of apprentices, boys, editors, laborers, schoolchildren, students, young people-especially youth of Mexican descent)
Birthdays Today:
Justin Timberlake, 1981
Kerry Washington, 1977
Portia de Rossi, 1973
Minnie Driver, 1971
Kelly Lynch, 1959
Jhn Lydon, 1956
Nolan Ryan, 1947
Charlie Musselwhite, 1944
Richard Gephardt, 1941
Jessica Walter, 1941
Stuart Margolin, 1940
Queen Beatrix, 1938
suzanne Pleshette, 1937
Philip Glass, 1937
James Franciscus, 1934
Ernie Banks, 1931
Jean Simmons, 1929
Carol Channing, 1923
Norman Mailer, 1923
Mario Lanza, 1921
Jackie Robinson, 1919
Thomas Merton, 1915
Garry Moore, 1915
Tallulah Bankhead, 1903
Eddie Cantor, 1892
Zane Grey, 1872
Franz Schubert, 1797
Robert Morris, 1734
Tokugawa Ieyasu, Shogun of Japan, 1543
Debuting/Premiering Today:
"These Are My Children"(TV), 1949 (first daytime TV Soap Opera)
"The Green Hornet"(Radio), 1936
"The Lone Ranger"(Radio), 1933
"Three Sisters"(Chekhov Play), 1901
"Hedda Gabler"(Ibsen Play), 1891
Today in History:
Guy Fawkes is executed for his plotting against Parliament and James I of England, 1606
The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital, 1747
The Corn Laws (tariffs on imported grains) are abolished in Britain, paving the way for more free trade, 1849
The United States orders all Native Americans to move into reservations, 1876
The Bulletin of Sydney is founded, publishes for 128 years, 1880
An automobile exceeds 100 mph (161 kph) for the first time, at Daytona Beach, driven by A. G. MacDonald, 1905
The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky, 1929
Scotch tape is first marketed by the 3M Company, 1930
Ida May Fuller of Ludlow, Vermont, US receives the first US Social Security monthly payment check, for $22.54, 1940
President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb, 1950
A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands, 1953
Explorer 1 – The first successful launch of an American satellite into orbit, 1958
James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt, 1958
Mercury-Redstone 2 – Ham the Chimp travels into outer space, 1961
The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna program, 1966
Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell, aboard a Saturn V, lift off for a mission to the Fra Mauro Highlands on the Moon, 1971
The first McDonald's in the Soviet Union opens in Moscow, 1990
Comet Hyakutake is discovered by Japanese amateur astronomer Yuji Hyakutake, 1996
NASA reveals the Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR), a lunar mining robot which could be used to produce fuel and water directly on the Moon, 2013
Sergio Matarella is elected President of Italy, 2015
"World's best chef" French-Swiss Benoît Violier is found dead after apparent suicide weeks after being named world's best by La Liste, 2016
Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah is crowned King of Malaysia (Yang di-Pertuan Agong) to serve a five-year term, 2019
The United Kingdom formally withdraws from the European Union, 2020
The online word puzzle sensation Wordle is bought by the New York Times, 2022
Poor Ms JAI. And everyone (including you) who cares about her. I hope (so much) that she finally gets comprehensive care. And yes, a scan or two wouldn't go astray. Great use of the prompts too.
ReplyDeleteHopefully, she will at last get the medical care and attention she deserves.
ReplyDeleteThat's excellent business strategy heheh! :-)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Keith hope she gets the care she needs
Have a wwtastic week mimi 👍
We will just hope that when you go inside that store when they are open, that they are awesome.
ReplyDeleteLove the business sign! Mom says at some point, people need to have someone go to all dr appts with their parent or "person" as drs don't always get the full story and patients don't always ask the right questions. Hope they can figure something out.
ReplyDeleteLove that closed sign. I love a sense of humor.
ReplyDeleteThat poor lady. I know you're doing what you can. Bless you. Prayers for her.
Thank you for joining the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop.
Have a fabulous Wordless Wednesday. Love and hugs. ♥
That's a cute sign and a good story too. Yes, we like businesses with a sense of humor too.
ReplyDeleteCharlee: "Just imagine how awesome it would be if it were open!"
ReplyDeleteIs the woman sad because the shop is closed?
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
You are so talented at that Words for Wednesdays that I am full of admiration for your abilities. Off away from anyone and anything I write a lot. Short stories and Vignettes usually-- or I should say more often...in the voices of flowers and insects who visit them. I post my photos with those conversations I happened to hear while being nearby as they are talking. I do that on Flickr usually. I love it. You do have a wonderful talent that I admire.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I love "Sorry, We are Closed, But We Are Still Awesome!"
ReplyDeleteI also suffer with MdDS but only mildly thankfully. I first got it when we came back from a cruise in the mid 90s and did feel like I was still on a ship. My doctor said it was most likely the movement of the ship had disturbed the fluid in the inner ear. There was no treatment but it might right itself or it might not. Not very helpful! It did get better over the years and I hardly noticed it until last October. Once again on a cruise and we got caught in two violent storms. It is quite bad now but I am hoping that once again it will improve on it's own.
ReplyDeleteI will add Ms JAI to my prayer list. How sad that the doctors didn't order a scan. XO
ReplyDeleteMs. JAI sure sounded like she had a sad time but hopefully things will be looking up. Good use of the WFW prompts.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely day.
Mrs. JAI has had a rough go, it seems. Thank you for checking in on her, Mimi. We sure hope she can get some good care soon.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad Ms JAI has you as well as others to help her, I hope she gets the brain scans done, I agree they are necessary after falling and hitting the head. I almost didn't notice the words buried in the story.
ReplyDeleteJust because a doctor has a fancy title does not mean he or she knows everything! An uneducated person could have figured your sweet friend needed more then a shove out the hospital door. I speak from experience having worked 32 years in the medical field in various areas and saw many things that appalled me. Makes me so sad. Because we are older does not mean we should stop breathing. You will rarely find me praising a doctor. Especially in the ER where often you are viewed by students and interns as circling the drain. Never heard that term until I worked in a research hospital and spent a few years in the ER. Sad tales to tell. A brain bled can and will lead to uncertain death unless properly diagnosed. So very sad. I am glad you also found out she was not getting a proper diet. Oh how my heart aches. Oh plus all my neurosurgery, three in an 18 month period of time. If you can not advocate for yourself you need someone who can! Tragic how much of this world thinks the elderly are throw aways.
ReplyDeletePoor Mrs Jai. She is lucky to have someone looking out for her but why on earth didn't the hospital(s) do more? Sometimes, I think they look at the birth date and decide that life isn't worth continuing, anyway.
ReplyDeleteSo sad for Ms. JAI. Unfortunately she is not unique.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to visit that shop - on a time where it is open.