Wednesday

Well, I started my new job last Wednesday. So far I'm loving it. It is zero stress! I am the office manager and it's nice to be in charge! The lady that was the manager before me retired a month or so ago. She was scared of computers and did everything in an antiquated manner. So I'm revamping! It's time to make use of the internet, get everything computerized and become efficient. With medical stuff there has to be a certain amount of paper, but there is a large percentage of my job that needs to be moved to computer. I'm up for the task. I enjoy getting to step in and create my own way of getting things done. It's always hard to start a new job and try to fit yourself into someone else's way of doing things. I pretty much have the green light on whatever I want to update. Not working on Fridays is awesome. This week the doctor is on vacation today and tomorrow. So one of the assistants is covering the office phone in the mornings and I don't have to go in until 12:30. I still get paid for the whole day though. Today I worked from 12:30-3:45. What a beautiful day. Stanley Steemer came in to clean the carpets and I had to leave when they were done. No walking on the wet carpets! Tomorrow I will likely just stay until 4. I'm there all by myself so I can pretty much come and go as I please. I do have some insurance claims to deal with but other than that, there isn't much for me to do with no patients there. I did not know that stress free jobs existed. Apparently they do though. It has been great to come home to a house that is still clean and feel refreshed from having a relaxed day at work. Chris on the other hand has gotten older and older every day that goes by. I can't think of a day in the last month that he hasn't come home and fallen asleep in his recliner. How un-fun! Next thing I know he'll be asking for dinner at 4 pm. LOL.

This has been quite a week. My inlaws think that my MIL (mom in law) may have had a light stroke earlier this week. They didn't take her to the hospital despite our pleading. They didn't call her doctor even though they said they would. They wear me out. I did get to sit with Chris's gma and talk for about an hour about how things are going with her right now. She is really advancing into the much later stages of alzheimers. She is definately out of the moderate category and into late stage. At the dinner table on Sunday she hissed at someone who said something she didn't like. It was akward. I never really know what to do when things like that happen. I feel like she is uncomfortable around me so I just try to stay out of the way. The speed at which she is declining is unreal. She was diagnosed 2 1/2 years ago. At that time she was still early stage. She's already thru almost every sign/symptom. She still knows her name and the name of the people she sees every day but she doesn't know who's house she is in or where the bedroom/bathroom is. She has been refusing to eat. She can't take any medicine because she has forgotten how to swallow pills. The pills always end up in her teeth. Even when they crush them into applesauce she manages to chew the little pieces and get them stuck in her teeth instead of swallowing it. It's a difficult situation. I'm not really sure what I can do to help them. She can barely move on her own now and if she does she screams and cries about it. She never gets off the couch. If I had to guess I'd say she's a few months away from being totally bedridden. It seems like her body has just shut down. Her mind is in better shape than her body is.

Then yesterday I finally convinced mom to go to the ER. She's been complaining of a sharp pain in her abdomen. It wasn't going away and seemed to be getting worse. She went to MWC ER at 1:30 yesterday. When I got off work at 5 I went over there and she was still in the waiting room. I got irritated and took her to St. Anthony's. When we got there only 2 other people were in the waiting room. That was at 6:15. She didn't get back to see a doctor until 10 pm!!!! I was infuriated! The doctor did a complete head to toe check on her. I've been trying to convince mom to go to another doctor for a long time. I think her doctor is practicing lazy medicine. He used to be a great doctor. When he switched from private practice to commercial hospital organization it all went downhill. There are a number of reasons that I think he isn't providing adequate care for her. I won't go thru all that, but they are very legitimate reasons. About a month ago I finally threw a big enough fit about mom's current state and how her current plan of care is not working that the doc finally ran some tests. This was the 5th time or so that I've pushed and pushed for him to do a work up on her and fix some issues. So, he calls her about 3 weeks ago and tells her that she has mono. What? Mono is usually in teenagers and young adults. It is very rare to be nearly 60 and get mono. I thought the "test result" was BS this whole time. So she tells the ER doc that she has mono and the doctor said she might have an enlarged spleen which could be causing the abdominal pain. The doctor was very confused. Long story short, he did a full work up on her. Checked every organ, white blood cell count, bone density, etc. Oh, her doctor also told her that she has osteoarthritis. In the end the ER doc gave us a full list of tests he'd run and all the results. There is not one thing wrong with her other than a small kidney stone that was passing. Those hurt like hell. I've had 3 and they are no walk in the park. However, he was very clear that she did not have mono or asteoarthritis. Her liver, pancreas, kidneys (other than the stone), lungs, bones, blood, etc were all perfectly fine. I feel quite validated that a doctor finally proved my point. There is nothing wrong other than being completely over medicated for diagnoses that are false. So, with my point now proven I am taking mom to a new doctor immediately. I don't care how long we have to doctor shop. We will find someone that can provide adequate care in a reasonable way. I didnt get home until 2 am. I was very fortunate that I didn't have to be at work till after noon.

So, that's the update on Sara's week. I hope you are all doing well. Next time I will try to say something insightful. :)