Wednesday, February 9, 2005
And, about today...hmmm...
...well, I'm not sure whether I was right about which 'pianist' movie Mom saw, but she was expecting a Liberace type of feature, not The Pianist, the movie we watched today. She was determined, though. She sat through "the whoooole thiiiiing". We stopped it a couple of times: First, so I could put the ham in the oven then so I could take it out and glaze it. Each time we broke the movie I asked Mom if she was sure this was the movie she thought she'd seen.
She couldn't be sure, she said, but she knew there were some concert scenes coming up soon. During the rolling of the final credits (which, if you've scene the movie you'll remember are run through an entire Szpilman concert) she looked at me as though to say, "See, I told you so!"
I'm actually glad we have the movie. I'll consider it the beginning of my Roman Polanski collection, which I'd forgotten when purchasing movies. I was very impressed, as usual, I might add, in Roman Polanski movies, with his ability to portray the horrible in such a way that we remember that it is horrible and why. I loved the "inside" German speaker's joke about Szpilman's name being the perfect name for a pianist. I was surprisingly sad to discover that the German officer who helped Szpilman probably died in a Russian concentration camp. I liked that the movie focused on this particular incident and spread out to the entire story from there, an exquisite parabola construction. Now I remember why I like Polanski movies.
We continue to struggle with Mom's UTI. To catch you up on discussion I've posted elsewhere, I've decided to take her off the Detrol during this antibiotic course, which will be 7 days of 500 mg Levaquin/day. I'll be giving both 250 mg pills to her at the same time. Within 3.5 days, even if she isn't bleeding from the urinary tract, which I'm sure she won't be, I'll be able to tell, from the clarity (or lack thereof) of her urine whether a urinalysis and represcription is indicated. If so we'll probably call the doctor Monday and try to have the tests done then. They may require an in-person appointment. We can do that. I continue to remain surprised at my recollections of how easy our last day trip to the doctor was.
Because I've been so concerned about the intransigiency of this UTI and how dragged out it makes Mom feel, tonight I said to her, gently, as she was settling into a reading position in bed, "Look, just in case, tonight is not a good night for you to die. I hope you're not planning on it."
She glanced up at me in genuine surprise. "Oh no! Not tonight! Not from this! I'm going to get better!"
Oh. Excuse me. Okay, then. Good!
Amazing how much spirit a reluctant, ancient body can contain. Sometimes, even my body doesn't contain the spirit hers does.
Oh, that we could all be perfectly protected when we need it most, yet feel as though we are perfectly free.
I guess that's what we look for in our religions, isn't it. Well, religion isn't where it comes from, folks. It comes from the circumstances and practice of human love and caring
So, I'm thinking there were other things I wanted to mention, but I can't remember them. Maybe I'll get to bed before midnight tonight. I want to be at the pharmacy as soon after 0800 (opening) as possible, so that I have the pills to plan into our daily pill regimen.
I'm trying to make sure she stays interested in food by making things we don't have often and making sure we have lots of ham, another one of which I roasted tonight, putting curry powder into the glaze again. With nuked yams. Tomorrow night we'll have corned beef, maybe hash if I remember to stop at the grocery and pick up a couple of potatoes on the way back from the pharmacy. She's really enjoying the yoghurt, which is good. A nice change of pace. We're keeping up with the olives. It seems that the olives, themselves, may do most of the work of 'needed fiber'. This is one of the ways I know this debilitation is temporary...none of her other functions are being affected. In fact, they are, in some cases, at all time highs in function.
I'm glad I can provide a very low key house for her. It has only recently occurred to me that this is good for her and something she deserves. I've been worried, as some of you may remember, that I am afraid I cannot (in part because of my nature) provide her with enough stimulation to make the most of her aging assets. But, you know, maybe a home centered around her is a good trade-off. She still gets stimulation and responds well to it. She just doesn't like to look for it anymore. So, this situation is good for her.
She's such a funny woman. Today I received an order, about a year's worth of special, very fragrant, very gentle hard milled soap specifically for bathing her. I was showing it to her and she was remarking on the aromas and the packaging. I started yakking about what a good deal I got on this stuff, ordering it online, then realized she was going to ask, "How much?" and would be listening to the answer through ears honed in the era of 5ยข equaling a good tip. So, you know, I told her. And, I tried to soften the blow. But she was stunned. It would have been as though I'd told you I had just bought a year's worth of 'fancy' soap at $100 a bar, and, by the way, what a bargain!
We got past that. I distracted her with the free samples included in the order.
I also bought a couple of azaela's that look like they've been spray painted. We are going to try to keep these alive.
And, we still have Citizen Kane and M*A*S*H, both of which I know will be hits because she's seen them.
So, oh yeah. There's one movie that I've been struggling about getting, lately, mainly because it's been available and really cheap and I slink guiltily past it every time I'm at Costco: Pretty Woman. This movie is one of Mom's guilty pleasures except that she doesn't feel guilty about it. She completely identifies with the heroine. It doesn't even bother her when the concierge (and, don't get me wrong, I love Hector Elizando) say's something about "a thing of beauty" and how it's hard to part with "it" and then the entire movie falls into perspective...but, you know, every time it's on TV and I'm mindlessly reading through the movies for her I kick myself in the butt when I mindlessly read this one and she watches it from somewhere after the beginning through to the end, yet again. Yeah, I guess I should get it for her. I know, from a romance story perspective, all about what a holy grail it is. It's just that I have trouble with the idea of subsidizing that kind of romance story perspective. But, my mother doesn't.
Well, if I'm going to make it into bed before midnight, I'd better start now.
Later.
She couldn't be sure, she said, but she knew there were some concert scenes coming up soon. During the rolling of the final credits (which, if you've scene the movie you'll remember are run through an entire Szpilman concert) she looked at me as though to say, "See, I told you so!"
I'm actually glad we have the movie. I'll consider it the beginning of my Roman Polanski collection, which I'd forgotten when purchasing movies. I was very impressed, as usual, I might add, in Roman Polanski movies, with his ability to portray the horrible in such a way that we remember that it is horrible and why. I loved the "inside" German speaker's joke about Szpilman's name being the perfect name for a pianist. I was surprisingly sad to discover that the German officer who helped Szpilman probably died in a Russian concentration camp. I liked that the movie focused on this particular incident and spread out to the entire story from there, an exquisite parabola construction. Now I remember why I like Polanski movies.
We continue to struggle with Mom's UTI. To catch you up on discussion I've posted elsewhere, I've decided to take her off the Detrol during this antibiotic course, which will be 7 days of 500 mg Levaquin/day. I'll be giving both 250 mg pills to her at the same time. Within 3.5 days, even if she isn't bleeding from the urinary tract, which I'm sure she won't be, I'll be able to tell, from the clarity (or lack thereof) of her urine whether a urinalysis and represcription is indicated. If so we'll probably call the doctor Monday and try to have the tests done then. They may require an in-person appointment. We can do that. I continue to remain surprised at my recollections of how easy our last day trip to the doctor was.
Because I've been so concerned about the intransigiency of this UTI and how dragged out it makes Mom feel, tonight I said to her, gently, as she was settling into a reading position in bed, "Look, just in case, tonight is not a good night for you to die. I hope you're not planning on it."
She glanced up at me in genuine surprise. "Oh no! Not tonight! Not from this! I'm going to get better!"
Oh. Excuse me. Okay, then. Good!
Amazing how much spirit a reluctant, ancient body can contain. Sometimes, even my body doesn't contain the spirit hers does.
Oh, that we could all be perfectly protected when we need it most, yet feel as though we are perfectly free.
I guess that's what we look for in our religions, isn't it. Well, religion isn't where it comes from, folks. It comes from the circumstances and practice of human love and caring
So, I'm thinking there were other things I wanted to mention, but I can't remember them. Maybe I'll get to bed before midnight tonight. I want to be at the pharmacy as soon after 0800 (opening) as possible, so that I have the pills to plan into our daily pill regimen.
I'm trying to make sure she stays interested in food by making things we don't have often and making sure we have lots of ham, another one of which I roasted tonight, putting curry powder into the glaze again. With nuked yams. Tomorrow night we'll have corned beef, maybe hash if I remember to stop at the grocery and pick up a couple of potatoes on the way back from the pharmacy. She's really enjoying the yoghurt, which is good. A nice change of pace. We're keeping up with the olives. It seems that the olives, themselves, may do most of the work of 'needed fiber'. This is one of the ways I know this debilitation is temporary...none of her other functions are being affected. In fact, they are, in some cases, at all time highs in function.
I'm glad I can provide a very low key house for her. It has only recently occurred to me that this is good for her and something she deserves. I've been worried, as some of you may remember, that I am afraid I cannot (in part because of my nature) provide her with enough stimulation to make the most of her aging assets. But, you know, maybe a home centered around her is a good trade-off. She still gets stimulation and responds well to it. She just doesn't like to look for it anymore. So, this situation is good for her.
She's such a funny woman. Today I received an order, about a year's worth of special, very fragrant, very gentle hard milled soap specifically for bathing her. I was showing it to her and she was remarking on the aromas and the packaging. I started yakking about what a good deal I got on this stuff, ordering it online, then realized she was going to ask, "How much?" and would be listening to the answer through ears honed in the era of 5ยข equaling a good tip. So, you know, I told her. And, I tried to soften the blow. But she was stunned. It would have been as though I'd told you I had just bought a year's worth of 'fancy' soap at $100 a bar, and, by the way, what a bargain!
We got past that. I distracted her with the free samples included in the order.
I also bought a couple of azaela's that look like they've been spray painted. We are going to try to keep these alive.
And, we still have Citizen Kane and M*A*S*H, both of which I know will be hits because she's seen them.
So, oh yeah. There's one movie that I've been struggling about getting, lately, mainly because it's been available and really cheap and I slink guiltily past it every time I'm at Costco: Pretty Woman. This movie is one of Mom's guilty pleasures except that she doesn't feel guilty about it. She completely identifies with the heroine. It doesn't even bother her when the concierge (and, don't get me wrong, I love Hector Elizando) say's something about "a thing of beauty" and how it's hard to part with "it" and then the entire movie falls into perspective...but, you know, every time it's on TV and I'm mindlessly reading through the movies for her I kick myself in the butt when I mindlessly read this one and she watches it from somewhere after the beginning through to the end, yet again. Yeah, I guess I should get it for her. I know, from a romance story perspective, all about what a holy grail it is. It's just that I have trouble with the idea of subsidizing that kind of romance story perspective. But, my mother doesn't.
Well, if I'm going to make it into bed before midnight, I'd better start now.
Later.
