The Doctor Adventure
Dad will be 81 next week. He is, as he should, crowing about his birthday (like any of us could forget!). As some of you have seen, his skin continues to be his biggest challenge. Years of no sunscreen, playing softball 4 times a week, then golfing daily have taken that soft Irish skin and done a number on it. Wait, you say? His last name is Palazzo? Well, he got all the Irish/English skin, for sure. Us kids were a bit luckier. We picked up some Italian genes, and my Mom gave us her complexion (she had one zap - that's it).
The rest of him is in pretty damn good shape, however you wouldn't know it if you listened to him. We managed to amuse the orthopedist today. I have to go with him for these types of appointments (well, you may remember the hospital visit in October, too) because he isn't always clear when he has the doctor's ears and eyes. It started with the initial paperwork.
"Why are you here?" was the question...Dad wrote in "Back/Wrist". I saw that (after I heard him say back to the front desk), and took the clipboard away from him. "What's this? BACK? You told me it was your shoulder" I said...so we got the Irish tongue going then..."Well, it's my shoulder really"..."You wrote BACK here"...So that got fixed. I then asked him all the other questions as I went through the 3 pages of information (that the office already had in their data files). He signed it all and kept the clipboard. "Don't you have to hand that in?" "No, they [there's that "they"] said to bring it in with me."
Second issue...after seeing all the people in the office get called in with the clipboard in the employee's hands, I figured we would only get in if he turned in the clipboard. "Dad, go turn in the clipboard and tell the person it is your SHOULDER, not your BACK". Yeah, so he turned it in.
He had to tell the people around us that I am the "warden", which was ok, because if I wasn't we would probably still be sitting in the office. Then we discovered we knew the people sitting next to us (go ahead, people, laugh), so it made our wait shorter, for sure.
Dad got called into the exam room, and the Nurse/Medical Assistant asked him a few questions. Dad proceeded to tell the story from 4 years ago when he fell out of bed when he was with my Mom after her "stroke" in Florida because he had vertigo and broke a bone in his shoulder...He is amusing - the Italian Leprechaun can turn it on, for sure. But I had heard the story many many times, and knew a bit more of what and why he fell out of bed. In the course of that particular adventure, Mom was left all alone, and she pulled out all of her monitor leads, packed her suitcase and changed into her street clothes. She was found going onto the elevator (breaking out!).
The Nurse/MA left as soon as she could. I knew she could have cared less about his adventures 4 years ago, but he kept talking...the Doctor came in and Dad proceeded with (yup!) the same story, however the Doc asked him to show exactly where the pain was...Dad got an X-Ray of his neck...a pinched nerve was the diagnosis for the current pain (between his shoulder blade and back of his shoulder...NOTHING to do with the 4 year ago fall).
In the meantime, I was texting my Sister, making sure she could follow this, blow by blow...she sent me a picture of Lucy sticking her tongue out at Desi behind his back. That's what Mom did to Dad their entire married life. I love that picture. It's been floating around Facebook the past week or so.
The next issue was the bubble thingy on his wrist that he's had for over 10 years. The Doctor touched it and Dad jumped up to the ceiling practically. I've seen Dad carry stuff with no problems with that hand. So Dad told him the story of the bubble thingy, disparaging a previous doctor Dad claims did nothing about it...the Doctor initially thought it may have been a cyst so he numbed Dad's wrist to see if he could drain fluid (I have that on video to share with my Sister...yes, I do!). Dad kept pulling his arm away, till I played the warden card and ordered him to be still (as I took the video). After numbing the area, the Doctor was able to pull some fluid out and determine this bubble wasn't a cyst. Doc bandaged it up, put an Ace Bandage on the wound. That was kind of interesting watching that, especially because Dad has been complaining about that bubble for 10 or more years...when the Doc said he was going to stick a needle in there, well, I thought my Dad was going to run out of the room. But he took the treatment.
We left the office with a script for pain meds for the pinched nerve, and 4 to 6 weeks of therapy for the pinched nerve. Dad likes the "Arpin" Center...the Doc had a hard time with that one, till I said "AHLBIN Center".
We go back in 3 weeks for a follow up. I know we amused the Doctor, and likely people in the waiting room. I did actually tell Dad he was a Wimp, and to be a man about the bubble thingy...at first I felt a little badly about that, but then I realized it was true, and he smiled a little when I called him a Wimp. I think he sets me up for that!
Gosh, we really are lucky to have this guy around to continue to have these adventures.
The rest of him is in pretty damn good shape, however you wouldn't know it if you listened to him. We managed to amuse the orthopedist today. I have to go with him for these types of appointments (well, you may remember the hospital visit in October, too) because he isn't always clear when he has the doctor's ears and eyes. It started with the initial paperwork.
"Why are you here?" was the question...Dad wrote in "Back/Wrist". I saw that (after I heard him say back to the front desk), and took the clipboard away from him. "What's this? BACK? You told me it was your shoulder" I said...so we got the Irish tongue going then..."Well, it's my shoulder really"..."You wrote BACK here"...So that got fixed. I then asked him all the other questions as I went through the 3 pages of information (that the office already had in their data files). He signed it all and kept the clipboard. "Don't you have to hand that in?" "No, they [there's that "they"] said to bring it in with me."
Second issue...after seeing all the people in the office get called in with the clipboard in the employee's hands, I figured we would only get in if he turned in the clipboard. "Dad, go turn in the clipboard and tell the person it is your SHOULDER, not your BACK". Yeah, so he turned it in.
He had to tell the people around us that I am the "warden", which was ok, because if I wasn't we would probably still be sitting in the office. Then we discovered we knew the people sitting next to us (go ahead, people, laugh), so it made our wait shorter, for sure.
Dad got called into the exam room, and the Nurse/Medical Assistant asked him a few questions. Dad proceeded to tell the story from 4 years ago when he fell out of bed when he was with my Mom after her "stroke" in Florida because he had vertigo and broke a bone in his shoulder...He is amusing - the Italian Leprechaun can turn it on, for sure. But I had heard the story many many times, and knew a bit more of what and why he fell out of bed. In the course of that particular adventure, Mom was left all alone, and she pulled out all of her monitor leads, packed her suitcase and changed into her street clothes. She was found going onto the elevator (breaking out!).
The Nurse/MA left as soon as she could. I knew she could have cared less about his adventures 4 years ago, but he kept talking...the Doctor came in and Dad proceeded with (yup!) the same story, however the Doc asked him to show exactly where the pain was...Dad got an X-Ray of his neck...a pinched nerve was the diagnosis for the current pain (between his shoulder blade and back of his shoulder...NOTHING to do with the 4 year ago fall).
In the meantime, I was texting my Sister, making sure she could follow this, blow by blow...she sent me a picture of Lucy sticking her tongue out at Desi behind his back. That's what Mom did to Dad their entire married life. I love that picture. It's been floating around Facebook the past week or so.
The next issue was the bubble thingy on his wrist that he's had for over 10 years. The Doctor touched it and Dad jumped up to the ceiling practically. I've seen Dad carry stuff with no problems with that hand. So Dad told him the story of the bubble thingy, disparaging a previous doctor Dad claims did nothing about it...the Doctor initially thought it may have been a cyst so he numbed Dad's wrist to see if he could drain fluid (I have that on video to share with my Sister...yes, I do!). Dad kept pulling his arm away, till I played the warden card and ordered him to be still (as I took the video). After numbing the area, the Doctor was able to pull some fluid out and determine this bubble wasn't a cyst. Doc bandaged it up, put an Ace Bandage on the wound. That was kind of interesting watching that, especially because Dad has been complaining about that bubble for 10 or more years...when the Doc said he was going to stick a needle in there, well, I thought my Dad was going to run out of the room. But he took the treatment.
We left the office with a script for pain meds for the pinched nerve, and 4 to 6 weeks of therapy for the pinched nerve. Dad likes the "Arpin" Center...the Doc had a hard time with that one, till I said "AHLBIN Center".
We go back in 3 weeks for a follow up. I know we amused the Doctor, and likely people in the waiting room. I did actually tell Dad he was a Wimp, and to be a man about the bubble thingy...at first I felt a little badly about that, but then I realized it was true, and he smiled a little when I called him a Wimp. I think he sets me up for that!
Gosh, we really are lucky to have this guy around to continue to have these adventures.
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