Mama, Is Your Seat Hot?

I finally went back to the doctor on Tuesday. I am a firm believer in giving the body time to heal itself and if it doesn't, then go to the professionals. Since I had the same symptoms of my son, who I had taken to the doctor, I followed his prescribed regime for healing. The exception being, I had to keep taking care of others and their affairs during my recovery time and did not have the benefit of lying in bed while someone took care of me. Obviously, rest was a huge factor in the recovery process and I didn't get enough of it.

My daddy had a check-up with his cardiologist on Tuesday, which worked out well for me. I only had to make one trip to Montgomery and was able to kill the proverbial two birds with one stone. So Tuesday morning, my mama, daddy, and myself all troop to the big city for a day of medical analysis.

The doctor gave me a prescription for steroids and antibiotics, but was still a little baffled at the cause of my plight. There is no major problem like strep or sinus infection. So he hopes this medication will take care of things and it seems to be helping to loosen whatever is in my head and throat and my voice is beginning to come back. I am guardedly hopeful that I am on the way to a full recovery. Daddy's doctor gave him a good report, but changed his blood pressure medicine stating that the current meds were causing breathing problems. Wow, he was hospitalized a few months ago with major breathing problems and nobody looked at that medication and determined that it could be a factor at that time? I am amazed at how advanced technology is and can still miss something to obvious.

After all the appointments were finished, I took them to Jim and Nick's for BBQ since Daddy had decided that was the cuisine of choice for the day. My sister, Ellen met us there and we had a most enjoyable late lunch. Daddy is learning to allow us to assist him with things, but it has been a long journey to achieve this. He has a little difficulty getting in and out of my car because it is low to the ground. I finally convinced him to hold my hand to lower and raise himself out of the vehicle instead of "falling" into it and "rocking" to get out of it. Once I proved to him that I was perfectly capable and strong enough to give him support, he was convinced that was a much better way to enter and exit the car. Victory! A hard fought, years long battle has finally ended in triumph...for both of us!

The weather had been pretty pleasant all day, but as it got later, the winds picked up and it got colder. My Daddy is the most cold natured man on the planet. We had not been traveling long when Daddy asks Mama if she was cold to which she replied, "No, I am comfortable." So he said to her, "Well, tell Laura to turn on the heat!". This is typical of him. I am sitting beside him, but instead of asking me himself, he insists on getting Mama to do his dirty work for him. He insists that Mama do EVERYTHING for him and we have been trying to break this habit, but have met with resistance on both their parts. He, because of his stubborn, willful, pride and she, because she doesn't want to hear him complain (I guess) or maybe just sympathizes with him too much, I don't really know why. It is beyond my comprehension. Whatever the reason, I am sick with this "thing" and I cough horribly when I get too hot, so I was not turning on the heater in the car on a day when it is 68 degrees outside. My car has heated seats, so I turned his on High, turned the AC/Heater to dual, turned his side to 80 and mine to 60. After about 25 minutes, he says, "Mama, is your seat hot?". She said, "No, I am comfortable" and I began to laugh. He said that if he could get his feet under him, he would be alright, but his backside was about to roast! Well, by now, I am almost to the point of having to pull the car to the side of the highway...I am in hysterics. I told them about the seat heater and turned it off. Mama started to laugh and Daddy started laughing and I remined him that he told Mama to tell me to turn on the heat. He said he meant the heater. I told him that maybe next time he might want to tell me himself so that the message didn't get skewed by being delivered third party. We all just kept laughing so hard about it until we got to their house. It was just so funny!

As of late, they seem so much more relaxed and at ease when I am with them. They are actually fun to be around. I think the "come to Jesus" meetings that my sisters Patty and Ellen have had with my Daddy may have just had an impact on him. My hopes are that whatever has made the difference, it will last. They deserve to be able to enjoy not only their last few years on earth, but enjoy each other, enjoy us, and enjoy the time we share. It is so much more pleasant to be with them when we can be ourselves and even laugh at ourselves together.