“This is supposed to be the time of my life – the nest is empty; but now Mom needs me.”

Today is the start of setting up Mom’s new doctors. I thought it best to have someone who specializes in Gerontology, and after hours of reading bios online and going over them with Mom, we chose a doctor we thought would be best for mom’s situation. I set up an appointment and we met with the doctor a few days later.

The first meeting went well and Mom thought the doctor was quite nice…. for a male! Mom would have preferred a female doctor but there are few of them in our area that specialize in Gerontology and traveling any distance in Los Angeles is quite a challenge, so I thought I would make it more convenient for my husband since he is the one doing the driving. I chose a doctor a few miles from where we live who is also associated with the nearest hospital – his office is right across the street from the hospital which I thought may come in handy at Mom’s age.

I was with Mom through the whole visit and helped her answer questions the doctor asked. Mom had a hard time remembering things but I was able to fill in the gaps. The doctor examined Mom, did height, weight, blood pressure, and did a complete blood work up. He was impressed with how well she looked but was concerned with her Osteoporosis so he ordered a bone density test. The one good thing about being associated with, and close to a hospital is that everything Mom needs is right close by. So we left the office feeling very good about our choice in doctors – now we just needed to wait for Mom’s test results.

We decided to take Mom for lunch after her appointment, which somehow becomes a ritual after all her appointments. Although my husband and I don’t mind going for lunch, Mom uses lunch to prolong her time out. I totally understand that she wants as much time with us as possible, but after hours of taking her to the doctor and then another couple of hours at lunch, my husband and I have had enough. It’s just a little overwhelming – mainly because we are not used to this routine but also because everything we do with Mom is just – so – slow. Like I’ve said before, I’m not ready to slow down, so it’s a little stressful.

But hey…. it has to be done so we will persevere.

What I Learned: A lot of energy is spent going slowly – I’m not ready for that yet.