Thursday, July 3

Slept well last night, and was up around 7:30. The first thing Hubbie discovered was that our coffee maker died. So he went to Mother's to make a pot.

I did stair stepping, resistance band, and weights exercises after breakfast. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house around 9:30, and she went to her jigsaw puzzle.

Once I was ready for the day, I did this and that, including boiling a big pan of eggs for making egg salad for the weekend. While I did things here, Hubbie ran errands, including going to the WDCS to buy a new coffee maker.

He also stopped by a cafe' to pick up a carton of chicken salad, and to a grocery store to buy bread rounds. We had some of the salad for lunch.

After lunch, around 1:15, I took Mother to the ophthalmologist to meet a 1:40 appointment. The tech checked Mother's eyesight, which meant that she needed to put drops in her eyes. The tech discovered how difficult this is, but she finally managed to pry her lids open.

The doctor later commented that he thought Mother could crack walnuts with her eyelids. Both he and the tech are amazed at how strong her lids are, since nothing else about her is very strong.

Tests revealed that Mother does have glaucoma, so she will need to continue with prescribed eye drops for the rest of her life, which means I'll be prying her eyes open every night from now on. What fun.

It turned out that we should have renewed her prescription when it ran out a couple of days ago, since her pressure was up again today. But the prescription was written for only two months, and it was my understanding that she was to return to the clinic after that time to determine if the problem had improved. I didn't understand that we needed to call for a new prescription as soon as the current one expired.

I thought Mother was to have a test after two months of drops, which would determine if she actually had glaucoma. She had that test last week, while the doctor was on vacation. It was necessary for him to read the results when he returned, and report to us.

He realized that he hadn't made himself clear, but there was no harm done, he said. We'll just get her started on the drops again, and she'll go back every four months to be sure the glaucoma is under control.

As soon as we returned home, Hubbie went to the pharmacy to get Mother's prescription. While he was gone, Mother peeled the boiled eggs, and I prepared the country ribs to marinate overnight. Then we watched TV until time to go to a local restaurant for supper.

I didn't have a plan for cooking at home tonight. I didn't want to prepare a big meal that would yield a bunch of leftovers, since we'll be fixing a lot of food over the holiday weekend. Mother and I had gift cards for the restaurant we went to, given to us as a thank you from Caring Hands. We were saving them for just such a time as this. We used one tonight, and saved the other for another time.

Just down the highway from the restaurant, near the river bridge, traffic was stopped, and police car blue lights were flashing. A large truck was sideways in the road, but we couldn't tell if there'd been an accident, or if the truck was just stalled.

For supper, Mother and I had Hawaiian chicken, with sweet potato fries, and Hubbie opted for catfish and French fries. He and I ate all our food, but we brought home part of Mother's for another time.

Back home, Mother was ready to go home, so I accompanied her. Then Hubbie and I watched TV, as usual, including a murder mystery series from the PBS channel that I'd recorded on DVR.

The weather for July, is very cool. This morning's temp was only in the high 50s. This evening was very pleasant, with little humidity. Both Mother and I needed light jackets in the restaurant, which was very chilly. I'm thinking jeans and jackets will be in order for watching the fireworks tomorrow night.