Day 38: A Pretty Boring Day

I'm very grateful to say that the doctor has doubled my pain meds, so Wednesday was a much better day for my dad.  If all goes as planned, he will be relocated to a Rehab Facility sometime Thursday.

I feel terrible, but I was unable to go to the hospital to see him yesterday.  Mom is starting to experience adverse affects from the pain medication - severe itching, headache and nausea.  Even worse, the pain medication does not seem to be working as thoroughly as needed as she is still experiencing a great deal of pain, though she is getting around a little better without assistance.

It's been storming terribly in my area due to numerous tropical storms brewing close by, and my father is a good 30 minutes away from home (in the rain).  Therefore, I made the awful decision to stay home with my mom yesterday as - if she were to need me - I would be unable to get back home quickly enough.  I hate having to choose between which parent to be there for, it's crushing me, but it comes down to the fact that my father has numerous professionals taking care of him and looking out for his best interest while my mom has no one but me at the moment.  Under any other circumstances, leaving a parent alone with medical staff would be a no-go for me; I'm very protective and paranoid and like to personally see to it that they are getting everything they need and are comfortable.  But in this case, I have to trust them in my absence.

Fortunately, I love this hospital and have very, very good experiences with their staff.  My family actually bypasses at least three closer hospitals to go to this one each and every time simply because it is THAT much nicer.  That's the only thing that makes me feel better about staying home.

I had a great dietary date.  I came in just under 1400 calories for the day, and that included feeling full and satisfied for the great majority of the day.  I messed up by snacking on some Special K Sour Cream and Onion Cracker Chips straight out of the bag - definitely ate more than one serving and caused my tongue to hurt because of all the excessive salt.  I've learned that, no matter how in control I think I am, I can't trust myself to eat things without portioning them out.  From now on, I either have to a) buy things that are packed in single portions, b) divide things up into baggies the moment I first open them or c) portion things out one at a time as I choose to eat them.

I'm having difficulty finding ways to work on at the moment.  The severe rain, thunder and lightning is making it unsafe to go for a walk at the park behind my house, I'm worried about going to walk at the mall or something (again, because I don't want to leave my mom alone for that long), and my mom is pretty much stuck in the living room, which is the only open indoor space I have for doing any other form of exercise.  I'm looking around the house for things I can use as weights to try to do some resistance training in the small area of my bedroom.

Sorry, this is a pretty boring entry I suppose, but cest la vie - what's a ChuChi to do?