cyrena

Too busy to do much but watch time fly by and my to-do list get longer. Between moving to Norway and the ongoing details with both my parents' medical conditions, my time hasn't really been my own for the past month or so. I'm hoping crises calm down enough that I can focus on more important things for a while, like what exactly is a fjord? where's the best place for a latte where we'll be living? where can I get me some Jarlsberg?

I've been trying to find a few minutes here and there to find out more about Norway since we're going to be living there in three months. I've found a couple less appealing things like Smalahove, a special Norwegian dish usually served around Christmas featuring half of a sheep's head. And "My Boobs Are OK", bubble gum pop Norwegian hit from 2006. I have a hard time understanding how this song ever got made as anything other than a youtube prank, but it made it to #5 on the Norwegian pop charts.

But tonight, I discovered some Norway trivia that is interesting and fun and makes me feel like the place is calling out to me. A Norwegian invented the paperclip! This totally feeds my paperclip fetish! According to about.com:

Johan Vaaler, a Norwegian inventor with a degree in electronics, science and mathematics, invented the paperclip in 1899. He received a patent for his design from Germany in 1899, since Norway had no patent laws at that time. Johan Vaaler was an employee at a local invention office when he invented the paperclip. He received an American patent in 1901 -- patent abstract  "It consists of forming same of a spring material, such as a piece of wire, that is bent to a rectangular, triangular, or otherwise shaped hoop, the end parts of which wire piece form members or tongues lying side by side in contrary directions." Johan Vaaler was the first person to patent a paperclip design, although other unpatented designs might have existed first.

So there I have it, a good reason to go! Maybe there's a statue or a paperclip museum. Must do more research. And for those of you into bubblegum pop...

Having both parents in different hospitals with serious aggravations of their conditions is really taking a toll on me this week. The past two days have been a flurry of phonecalls and visits to one place or the other. Trying to get good information about what's going on with each of them is one of the hardest things I've ever done. Somehow the way healthcare is compartmentalized seems to really put up roadblocks at each turn.

Today my chief concern with my mom is she seems to have fallen into whatever the routine timetables are at the nursing home. So instead of going home sometime this week, she has a meeting on Monday to discuss her potential discharge the following Monday or the Monday after that. I think. I say I think because I have gotten three different dates from three different people. And when I ask if she is being kept for a compelling medical reason I get even weirder answers. Some don't relate to her situation at all and others seem to be kind of formulaic answers that do relate to her but don't seem very compelling particularly in light of her big picture condition. Every time I ask a few too many questions or they can't answer something I get referred to a different department or person. I shuffled through four yesterday before I decided I had to stop for the day. At least she's in a safe place and feeling ok. That had to be enough last night when I left for home.

It's really confusing for a non-medical layperson to figure out who to talk to to get a clear understanding of what's going on. On top of that, since she's in the nursing home, her regular doctors aren't seeing her. And her pulmonologist hasn't seen her at all for two weeks even though she went to the hospital with exacerbations that were diagnosed as being related to her COPD.  I know this because I asked him yesterday (after a bit of a rigamarole - just another minor roadblock along the way).

When she left the hospital last week, I was told by the primary care physician that she probably wouldn't need to be at the nursing home very long. And now I'm getting projections of 3-4 weeks. I don't really know what "not long" means to most people. But a month seems long to me, especially for someone who is looking and feeling as well as I've seen her in a year and who has end stage lung disease.

So I'm trying to figure out - do I just take her out of there? Is there some better way to work within the system?  Is there some way to do all this so that I don't consume every waking hour trying to figure out and make arrangements for her?

I really want her to be where she wants to be (home) as soon as it makes sense. I don't her to be in the nursing home a day more than is truly necessary. And I want what's best for her so she can have the best life during her remaining time. I don't expect miracles. I do want her to have the very best of the things we can control.

I haven't even mentioned my dad.  That's another story.

Loves:

• Having multiple medical things all resolve themselves at once
• Time to do a few things around the house, like watch TV or read a book
• Traveling to new places; meeting new people
• The bus to Boston - a movie and a nap instead of driving two hours in traffic - doesn't get much better than that!
• Norway? Perhaps! Time will tell.
  
• Being excited about doing something new
• Emailing with old friends

Loathes:

• Licorice/fennel flavored toothpaste

In other news, we got job offers in Norway and will probably be heading there the end of July. Sounds like fun. Norway research must commence.

Dad is out of the hospital after having his foot amputated over the weekend. He'll be in a rehab for a few weeks getting used to what he has to do to move around and getting stronger.

And Mom moved to a rehab the middle of last week and I think she'll be going home later this week. She's also doing well.

And the newborn nephew is out of the hospital, back home and doing well.

Medical crises under control for now.

Nothing more to say. 

Now Mom and newborn nephew are in the hospital. Different hospitals in different towns. Dad might have to go back in but he's currently having daily IVs at the emergency room instead. Hopefully that will work for him. Third town there.

To continue my hospital-related complaints, I was in the ER with Mom for about 6 hours yesterday. She's on 3 liters of oxygen. Three different times she was hooked up to the wrong amount, an empty tank or to a tank that someone wasn't operating properly. Every time there's something wrong with her oxygen she panics. Isn't administering oxygen a pretty common thing in hospitals?

On the good side, most nurses and the two doctors she saw seemed competent and professional, if snail-paced.

I wish we could have these for mounts. They're so beautiful and they undulate as you fly. Even though nether rays undulate I've never found them graceful. These are gorgeous. For now I just enjoy them on the Quel'Danas bombing runs.

I've missed a few Tuesdays in a row, but for some reason I'm ready to catch up right now. So, even though it's Friday, here goes..

Loves:

• warm weather
• lots of sunshine
• snow almost melted in most parts of the yard except where it was pushed into an icy pile that's still about 4 feet tall
• piles of clean clothes
• empty recycle bins
• a good long book that still has a couple hundred pages to go
• reading outside in the sunshine in a t-shirt!
• feeling like there are golden opportunities on the horizon
• circuit breakers

Loathes:

• dealing with multiple medical issues in the family all at once for extended periods of time
• family members diagnosed with new conditions
• an itch that just gets itchier when you scratch it
• a spider on the wall right above the head of my bed
• kitchen stove beeping an incessant error message at 3 am