Chapter 546 - god's in "Control"

Up the 4 lane yesterday to meet the sisters for a birthday lunch at the club. Before leaving I asked whether she was happy with the seating arrangements at the club; by convention, we always sit at the same semi-circular bench seat at a circular table within a semi- circular booth in the following order - brother-in-law, sister, sister, brother-in-law, myself, then she in her wheel chair. She in PD manner speaks softly and hesitatingly and does not usually take part in the to and fro of the conversation, often when she attempts to do so she is not heard by the sisters on the opposite side of the table. Sometimes she may be asked a question about our grandchildren (a frequent conversation topic) and should she answer softly or hesitatingly she may be ignored. Perhaps I am exaggerating since I am sensitive about her condition. She responded to me that she had no concerns about the seating arrangements so I decided not to cause stress by suggesting we sit at a rectangular table elsewhere in the club.

Rather than buy her a main course I bought her a mushroom quiche and a milkshake at the sandwich bar and when I ordered a main course for myself I asked for a plate of vegetable "chips" (potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, zucchini and gravy) for her. Unfortunately, she was unable to eat the pieces of mushroom in the quiche and little of the chips. And she dropped bits and pieces and gravy down her clothes. After discussing family doings one of the sisters mentioned that primary school children are being indoctrinated about global warming and a reference to the Scandinavian teenager causing the climate change protests. I began to weigh in which initiated the expected response from one brother-in-law "We will not go there!" and repeated for emphasis. That is his response to any discussion about either religious or political matters. I asked whether such matters were mentioned from the pulpit, one sister answered "No" and the other stated "God's in control".

We normally stay for the draws of the lucky barrel competition held after lunch on Fridays at this club. Unfortunately, her legs became very dyskinetic from before noon, getting worse through the meal so she was very willing to leaving for home when I suggested it, to the surprise of the others. As I turned to push her wheel chair away I said sarcastically "god's in control" to which a sister replied "Yes He is" and I said as I pushed the wheel chair away "What a load of Bull Shit". Back at our car I dropped the almost full milk shake container on my foot, splashing it over my left shoe and onto the car; well, much better than a bolt of lightening.

Although still dyskinetic she was keen to visit BigW when I suggested it, I thought doing so would put a little zing to a less than satisfactory day. So I parked in a disabled slot near the escalator and lift and we toured the store for some time, buying clothing she probably does not need and other trivia. Her dyskinesia became worse as we drove, she asked me to stop about 20 minutes from home. At the rest stop she asked to me lower her backrest for she wanted to sleep, but that being uncomfortable she wished to sit upright again. The car A/C was going full blast, she felt hot, I decided to head home. Once home I put her to bed. Later she had some left over peanut butter and banana smoothie from the night before. She asked to return to bed before the wild Dog Carer arrived so I changed her clothes and made her comfortable. I asked the Carer, when she arrived, to have a "social" with her and I believe they discussed pregnancies and child birth while eating chocolates bought at Big W.

I thought best to check on her after typing the above, finding her with a small pair of scissors cutting gaps into the rear edge of the neckline where the size label once was on one of the blouses bought yesterday at Big W. Obviously she had crudely removed the label and was in the process of "trimming" her workmanship. I took several photos from my phone, and when she didn't object, I videoed her as well, At one point she said "You'll flatten your battery." I left her to her job of destroying the $25 blouse; that was about 10AM and I suppose she will remain at her task until noon or until something else distracts her.

I'm too lazy to check whether I mentioned my left ear infected for the second time in the last few months. My hearing checkup was postponed for several weeks. On Thursday my left ear was so bad I was told I will need a new hearing aid and my right has deteriorated to needing one as well. The audiologist (I assume that is what she is called) asked me to return in two weeks to re-check my left ear because it still showed after effects of the infection. When driving the car I find having a conversation with my dearly beloved impossible (since we drive on the correct side of the road in our civilised country).

Last Wednesday we attended the all-day PD Clinic at the other hospital in Big Smoke City. A good day discussing her needs with the allied professionals but we had to skip seeing a neurologist because after waiting 40 minutes she was becoming uncomfortable with dyskinesia and I had summoned our transport to the door as the neurologist turned up. The organising nurse asked whether she was as "usually as bad as this" as I bundled her into the car; I replied "Yes" rather than being verbose about changes day-day.

I checked on her again; she asked for "something cold" so I brought her a lemonade ice block while she continued fiddling with the damaged blouse, some 60 minutes after beginning; she knows what needs to be done without the ability to do so anymore. At the PD Clinic she obtained a score of 21/30 for the Montreal Cognitive Test, up one point from the same test last year. That meat head Trump  scored 30/30 according to https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/01/the-president-can-draw-a-clock/550610/ but I'm sure that's a hoax folks.