I think this is the longest I’ve gone without posting. After an uneventful weekend getting mom to and from church and to a get together with her best friends family, I took Mom to the orthopedist to get a cast on her arm. That has led to some very challenging times for her. I appears that swelling has led to a nerve being compressed and when she had the cast put on it caused lots of pain. Then she became very tired, not feeling well and tested positive for Covid. We ended up going back to the emergency department when the pain got really bad and she had swelling in her fingers. They took off the cast, which gave her immediate relief and put on a splint. We went back to the orthopedist the next day and ended up just getting another splint to give more space for the swelling in her arm, in the hopes that would help reduce the pain. I have not been very happy with the orthopedist’s attitude and lack of information given to us. It’s a sharp contrast to the positive and informative interactions I’ve had with medical personnel in Kaiser over 20 years. I can see now why older people often go downhill quickly after an injury, especially with medical personnel like that, and if they don’t have family or other people to support them.
Between a learning curve that has not leveled out and Mom dealing not only with lots of pain from her broken wrist, but with exhaustion from Covid it’s been about all I can do to get through the day with what absolutely has to be done and then I don’t have energy left over for much more. I’m making sure to get out for walks and get enough sleep. I had a wonderful foggy walk to Tennessee Valley Beach, which I had all to my own one morning.
I also went on a hike with Julie, finishing off another part of the ridge trail in the Novato area of Marin. We are both very glad we got out early as the hike was pretty exposed in some parts and had a decent amount of elevation gain so it was good to enjoy that while the weather was a little cooler. Beautiful views and very few other people on the trails and roads, which is always a blessing.
What else has been going on? I’ve been learning a lot about grant administration and accounting, dealing with restricted grants. It is fantastic to work with such an enthusiastic and positive group. Definitely makes me feel so hopeful for the future, but it really makes me think even more about how there needs to be better funding for organizations like this so that people aren’t run ragged and paid low wages for such important work.
I am also looking after my sister’s cat at their lovely new place in Terra Linda. It is such a sunny, calm, wonderful space. It’s really helped the last couple of days to spend some time there by myself. The cat is named Elvira and their fish is called Swim Shady – I am so impressed! There were some beautiful sunrises and sunsets while I was there, and lots of great free little libraries in the neighborhood. Apparently Little Fires Everywhere is a popular book in that area, two of the free little libraries I went past had a copy.
