Mom and the Doctor

We woke up at 6am and checked out. We bought cubanos and pastries at the local coffee shop and were on the road by 7am. My brother called my cell phone to make sure all was going well. He had made it back to his place safely. My daughter and I rolled on down Rt. 1 north toward Pompano and had a fairly uneventful trip back to my mom’s. We drove part way with the top down, the heat blasting and the windows up 😉 Gotta do that when you have a convertible. I had never driven a convertible before so I definitely wanted to drive with the top down as much as possible, plus on the drive up I had gotten some sun on the left side of my face. I needed to get some sun on the right side to balance it out.

We got back to Mom’s by 1pm so we had plenty of time before her 3:20 doctor’s appointment. I had bought her a rum cake in Key West and gave it to her then I packed up my stuff for the trip home Weds. morning so that I wouldn’t have to waste my valuable evening time Tues. night.

Mom’s doctor was much older than I expected. I really think he may have even been Mom’s age but, then again, she looks much younger than her 82 years so maybe he was in his 70s. I guess, though, that means he has a lot of experience, so he’s probably best for her. He listened to what she had to say which I think is good, then he did a pretty thorough exam. He agreed to increase her dopamine medicine. She is so very weak and this seems to improve her condition. To my surprise he adamantly agreed with my suggestion he change her antidepressant. She’s been on Prozac for years and it becomes ineffective after awhile in most cases. I’m hoping with these increased and changed medical doses, she will be feeling much better before long. I think she also needs to get her hearing checked, but that’s not for the neurologist to do. My mom was very pleased with the visit and extremely pleased that I was there with her. That made me happy.

After the doctor visit, my daughter, mother and I went out to the Flaming Pit for dinner. My daughter and I split the grilled chicken breast. It was amazingly delicious! I ran over to the fruit stand/souvenir shop next door and bought a couple of grapefruit and tangerines to take home as well as a small present for my boss and the other assistant where I work.

When we got back to Mom’s place, I went over the driving directions to get the car back to the rental place in the morning then we watched some TV together. Mom was tired so she was off to bed. It was kind of sad to know I would be leaving so early in the morning and, although I loved the Keys, I felt like I just hadn’t had enough time with her this visit. We had determined already that I would return in January. We had decided that I would come to visit the third week of every other month starting in January. It scares me when she seems this weak and depressed. I want to see as much of her as I can, first to cheer her up and secondly to get as much time in with her as I can before the inevitable. I need to cherish these moments because one day she won’t be there for me and I will have a huge gap in my heart. Now that I’m older and that we get along so much better than ever before… now that we have learned to respect and appreciate each other, we need to take advantage of it as much as possible.