To the moon and back

Well, maybe not all the way to the moon, but I am tired enough to have flown there under my own power today.

First of all I had to prep dad for a day with me gone, all while showering, fixing breakfast, eating breakfast and making sure Michael the PT didn't see me naked running down the hall (there is no door on the bathroom anymore so dad's wheelchair can fit through. Once I got dressed, got dad set up in the living room, and escaped it was 9:30 am and I still had to go buy gas and get my meager paycheck, then drive the 10 miles to my cousins and pick him up. Of course we had several hours drive ahead of us to get him to his vision appt. in Vancouver, WA. I had planned on just dropping him off and being on my way so I could get through Portland before the rush hour traffic hit. We stopped in McMinnville and grabbed a quick burger at 11 (too early for lunch) and again in Tigard so I could make a bank deposit. Then on to Vancouver and his appt. I said, "I can just drop you off out front and you can catch a shuttle back to the VA in Portland, right?" and he said, can't you come to the appt. with me? What is a kind, loving cousin to do? I figured if I had to go in the least he would do was give me some gas money, right? No. Not only did I buy the burgers, but paid for the gas, too. I told him he could catch up with me on the gas later. (hint-hint) He said, okay. I know he has to give his brother gas when he picks him up on Friday. Needless to say we spent an hour or so at the appt., then another hour trying to straighten out his lodging. He had also been told he would recieve gas money for today's trip and Friday's as well. The travel office said, no just one gas money since he was staying in Portland. They don't care how many times anyone else has to drive up there to make sure he makes it back home. Irritating, but I guess I understand their reasoning. I just hope he gets his service connected disability like he should after all these trips and all the time away.

I finally got away from him at around 4:30 after fighting traffic to get him up to the VA in Portland. He didn't want me to leave him there, he wanted me to wait even longer and go to the billeting office and make sure where he needed to be for the night, then go home. I said, sorry, no. I was going to head home or I would never get there. I had things I had planned and places I really planned to go. I had a $10 off coupon I could only redeem this week for the bead store I went to last week, but didn't have time to go to since I didn't get to go when I had planned, so I gave the coupon away. I went to a different bead store and bought some more sale seed beads to make a couple of spiral weave bracelets or a necklace or something. I also picked up a few charms in a gold plate finish. Tess and I are going to make some earrings to sell in her boss's shop. They have to have a beach theme, but we are going to throw in a few flower and butterfly earrings so there will be a little more variety for folks who aren't looking for just beach stuff. I also went to Michael's and checked out their beading and jewelry supplies. I needed some cheaper plated earwires and such for the resale stuff, too. I nabbed a few things I figured might come in handy. They were having some pretty good sales. We'll see how it all comes together and we will probably make a trip to Newport and a couple of other bead stores tomorrow. Love making new projects, but hate the prep time spent trying to figure out what we need for them. It would have helped if I had seen the pictures of the lines her boss carries now, but at least I have them tonight.

I put off eating anything until after Michael's, so by the time I stopped at Pizza Hut, oh boy (she says sarcastically), I was way beyond hungry. Good thing their food isn't that great so I didn't overeat. I had their buffet. Their new pasta is pretty good. I also knew their buffet would be really quick to eat and I could get salad bar and at least eat partially healthy.

Jeez, I finally got home at 9:30 and dad was waiting up for me. It was a good thing, too. His urostomy appliance had sprung a leak sometime today and had leaked urine all over the place. I came through the front door to about 85 degree temperature and the reak of stinky old rotten smelling urine. Real nice welcome home, since I knew it meant at least another half hour or more before I would be able to sit down or rest to recover from the drive. So I got dad's bed all set up to change his appliance, ran around opening all the windows, and got him to his bedroom and stripped to change all his undies and outies and the appliance and collection bag. I told him I wished he knew when it happened, because not only does it smell icky, it is toxic to his skin. So I had to treat all the new loss of skin, and coat everything in a layer of "diaper ointment" for lack of a better word. He was just getting all healed up, and now we are back where we were.

Tomorrow I am going to the hospital supply in Newport and trade in some of his appliances for a smaller aperture. I don't know if it will help, but it might. And his skin around his stoma is really irritated looking. I sure hope I get a chance to sleep in the morning. If not I may just get him up and go back to bed. I think it will take a few days to recover from today. I hate being in pain like this, but there is nothing I can do about it. Barrie, I know you know what I am talking about. Like my mom said it is suck it up or go jump in the lake (or off a cliff). Guess I will suck it up, ignore the excruciating pain in my back and pray sleeping will calm it down some. Tomorrow will bring more bead stores, so how can it be a bad thing? LOL (Note to self: Rita, put on those big girl panties and move forward.)