Making Progress

 

Friday, May 11, 2012 – Making Progress

I’m so glad this day is ending on a positive note.  A little more than 24 hours ago, we were rushing to Urgent Care to seek help for Elliott.  This was right after spending a three hours at Greenspring, where we selected a room in the assisted living unit for my mother. While Elliott was sitting in the car with the window open, something flew into his eye.  The pain was intense, so we immediately sought medical attention.  By the time Elliott saw the doctor at our local Urgent Care office, the pain had subsided.  The doctor assured Elliott that he wasn’t in any serious danger, but she recommended a visit to his ophthalmologist as soon as possible.  All the while, Elliott was still dealing with the pains in his lower back that were shooting down the backs of his thighs.  We were able to reach the pain doctor by phone this morning.  Elliott will have to wait until next Tuesday for another injection.  However, in the short-term, the pain doctor advised him to take his pain medication more frequently.  In addition, he added an oral steroid for the next few days. 

This morning, instead of going to the gym, I took Elliott to see his ophthalmologist.  It turned out that nothing was in his eye, but he has a condition called “ectropion.”  In laymen’s terms, this is baggy lower eyelids.  It makes it easy for foreign objects to get into his eyes and also leads to drying of the eye and excessive tearing.  It can be corrected by a simple surgical procedure to tighten up the lower lids so we’ll check into that after the big celebration. 

By this afternoon, Elliott’s pain had abated enough so that he was able to take Ruby out for a test drive.  Note:  Ruby is one of the walkers in Elliott’s fleet.  A few weeks ago, while she was in the trunk of the car, one of her wheels became detached and some of the parts seemed to be missing.  Elliott (aka Mr. Do-It-Yourself) spent countless hours working on walker repair.  Once he had the wheel reattached, he was eager to try it out, so after lunch, we took a walk up the street with Ruby.  At first, the wheel seemed a bit wobbly, but all went well and Elliott was elated.  I was just delighted that Elliott’s pain had lessened enough to allow him to get out and walk. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon in the garage, sorting through Elliott’s paintings.  It’s a shame that so many have been wrapped up and stored away since 1983 (just prior to our move to France).  Many of them are simply too large to display in the house.  But we managed to select about a dozen to hang on the walls for the birthday celebration.  That will be a project for the coming week.    

I got my exercise today by moving paintings and furniture.  Special thanks to next-door neighbors Anne and Nick who responded to our call for assistance and helped us move Elisa’s sofa from downstairs to the family room in preparation for the open house.  Today’s great weather (bright sun, 70s, no humidity) was perfect for the Convento Clan to gather for a happy hour on the Traynors’ front lawn.  After two glasses of Russian River Chardonnay, I’m feeling much more relaxed.  Popcorn, hummus, crudités and artichoke dip make a great dinner.