Tuesday, May 26, 2009

One beagle, a lab, and an indeterminate

Two nurses simultaneously this morning: Cheryl, the INR nurse; and Lee, the physical therapist. Apparently Grandma's shoulder has been hurting her, and the nurses think it's because she tore her rotator cuff muscle in her shoulder when she fell. Lee says they can't be sure without an MRI, but as it won't impede her function as long as it doesn't hurt (read: no more baby aspirin, they're changing it) and rehab is outrageous (that's a quote) there's not really much point doing surgery. Okay. And Lee has been preparing Grandma to go up and down stairs with the cane.

Looks like rain again. Gave Lark a very short walk just before lunch, which was salmon sandwiches. Pretty good.

Diane came and had Grandma practice using the cane around the house, carrying dishes to the sink and stuff. She says I'm spoiling Grandma, helping her dress and stuff. I think the woman's trying to put me out of a job.

Walked Lark maybe one-thirty? Actually she had a very short walk about eleven-thirty, but it was maybe ten minutes. Tch. So I took her out again while Grandma was napping, and we had a good long walk along my favorite Heller trail. We saw a few people on the trail. There was a man heading briskly into the trees with two dogs at his heels. One was probably a Lab and the other was a medium dog with handsome brown fur with black highlights. I don't know what breed, and I didn't get a chance to ask. We met a woman with an elderly and overweight beagle as he was sniffing about under the tree where the trails from the houses meet. After them there was no one for some time, until Lark alerted me to the presence of a human by flattening her ears and wriggling up to an older man some distance past the pond, on the way back. He was nice, giving me no reason to decry her lack of discrimination. We were almost to the main trail when a man on a bike passed us. Lark was on the trail ahead, at a narrow point through the brush, so I was concentrating on coaxing her off the trail to me as he passed. There were a lot of people up above the Heller house, their cars all parked around it. I think they've been surveying. We didn't run into any of them. There was an SUV that came up behind us on our way out, but I don't think the elderly gentleman driving it was with them. For one thing, he had Florida plates.

Did some laundry, helped Grandma change her sheets, neatened up the kitchen. Bizarre as it is, I really am learning some of the stuff B was talking about, Mom. E.g.: Always cut your sandwich in half. It's more graceful eating it that way. Also, the purpose of a dishwasher is to get dirty dishes out of sight, thus neatening the kitchen. Hm.

It's seven-thirty. I am about to die. My legs have been complaining all day about their treatment yesterday, beginning in the morning with a little tendon or something in the side of my right foot and spreading to my calves (very bad) and a little in my thighs. Meanwhile the dog is asking me to play with her. HOW DO YOU THINK THIS HAPPENED TO ME??! Too much time playing chase with a larky little beggar like that! So my bed is unfolded and I am simply delaying falling asleep, because if I wake up at five tomorrow (and, oddly, I have been waking before the alarm) the only thing there will be to do is go for a walk. Which is not my idea of a good way to wake up. A good way to get hit by a car, a good way to trip and break your nose, a good way to walk off a cliff. Not a good way to wake up.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Anna, saw your post on going to Syd's. How was Isaac doing? Lark is a little moron, to be scared by liddle kids...

Anna said...

He was in fine form. Set to Maximum Obnoxious.

And oi, be nice. She's not used to hoomins that actually behave in a civilized manner.