First thing in the morning, I called the doctor's office and made an appointment for Acell for 11:30. Dr. Voss is on vacation in Brazil, visiting his in-laws, so Chris is running the show. We were lucky to get an appointment so quickly.
Acell refused to shower because he doesn't feel it's safe while he's in pain, so I told him to use some cleaning wipes to clean himself. He only had half an hour before we needed to leave, but he got almost completely undressed before he went into the bathroom. I was concerned about being late, so I came in with him and told him what to do and then helped him get dressed. I had to help him with his buttons and his pants and socks, and almost everything. That's a first for us.
We did get out the door and to the doctor's office just a couple of minutes late. Not surprisingly, we still had to wait a bit for the doctor to come in and see us.
They wanted to check Acell for a UTI, but his urine came out clear. That was good news.
Chris is a Physician's Assistant. He's very knowledgeable and down to earth and has a good rapport. He questioned Acell quite a bit and then got him up on the exam table. That was hard, and it was hurting Acell when he laid down. Chris tried to get him to point to where the pain was, and Acell was finally able to point to a place in his lower abdomen at the side. When Chris poked around, it was obvious that it wasn't in the joint and didn't seem to be in the muscle.
Chris thought it might be a bowel problem because it's been a couple of days since Acell had a bowel movement. They sent an order for an x-ray of Acell's lower abdomen to Revere Health.
It was really hard getting Acell back to a sitting position because it was so painful for him. In a way I was grateful for that because it demonstrated that he actually has pain. Sometimes when we've checked to try to find out what's going on, the symptoms have disappeared.
So on our way home from the doctors office, we stopped at Revere Health near us and after some delay getting the order from the doctor's office, they took Acell into Imaging. I didn't go in with him and it seemed to really take a long time. Acell explained to me that he had to get fully undressed and when I asked if it was hard for him to get on and off the x-ray table, he said yes, that it took three people to get him back off the table. I'm glad I wasn't there for that.
When we got home, Acell had a little while to rest before we had to go to physical therapy. Chris had told us that he wanted him to be using a cane or walker, especially since he has had several falls lately. So we took the cane with us to physical therapy. When Hailey tried to teach Acell how to walk with it, it was obvious that he probably wouldn't remember. Plus, she decided that Acell might try to use the cane to help stand up, and it was likely to slip out from under him and cause him to fall. She recommended that a walker would be better, and offered to help adjust the walker we have so that it would work best for Acell. She told me about getting tennis balls to put on legs that don't have a wheel. I looked on Amazon at home. I found tennis balls that are pre-cut and made to fit on walker legs. Isn't that interesting? They will be delivered on Friday.
They put Acell through some of his other exercises, but didn't work too hard at the sit-to-stand, because it's a bit painful for him to do that. I've had to help pull him up off the chair most of the time for the last few days.
As soon as we got home, I suggested that Acell eat something, but instead he just went straight into his bedroom and lay down. I think he was pretty worn out.
I did some stuff until about dinner time. Acell wandered out and made himself a sandwich. I had some food thawing for dinner, but when he went and laid down again, I never got around to cooking it. I ate a little plate of potato salad, but then it was time for me to leave for my music workshop.
I made sure that Acell was going to be all right while I was gone.
A music store in Orem, Best in Music, sponsors an annual choral workshop. It's presented by Jackman Music. It's a free workshop and they provide each participant with a packet of music. They bring their own accompanist and director and everyone sight reads through all the music in the packet. There is an order form that we can order any of the music we like at a great discount.
It was fun singing through all of that beautiful music, but I didn't feel like I could really order anything since I'd be spending my own money. After the workshop, I did order two copies of a brand new Hymnplicity that includes several of the new hymns. I also picked up the music that Best in Music had ordered for me.
Driving at night these days makes me a little nervous, but sometimes I have to do it. I stopped at Walmart on the way home in Springville and got gas for $3.07 per gallon.
Acell was doing fine when I got home. I'm not sure what he did during the evening. I got home at almost 10 PM.
No comments:
Post a Comment