Marguerite
Active Member
G'day, folks.
I'm just grabbing a few minutes in between difficult child 3 loading various computer files, to greet you all.
We've had a fairly busy day today. mother in law has been feeling unwell for about a week now but wouldn't admit to it, she is terrified of having to go into hospital. But when her heart was still misbehaving yesterday we said to her, "You want us to go shopping tomorrow for a new TV, you need to buy yourself a new lounge chair, we will go shopping with you on one condition - you let us get you checked out by the doctor."
She reluctantly agreed, on condition we shopped for the TV first (it's her Christmas present to us). So we agreed - providing SHe shopped for the armchair before the TV! She really needs a new armchair, a good one that will recline, has a good leg rest and also will rise up to help her out of the chair. her current one is a rocker which easy child says (wearing her professional Occupational Therapist (OT) hat) is very bad for her. mother in law has been fighting this for some time but her daughter promised to pay for it so cost is not the issue.
So we all loaded up. easy child & SIL1 were to head back home to Canberra from the shopping, saving them having to come back to our place then have to head home from there. That would have saved them an hour's driving.
We therefore went in two cars, easy child & us collecting easy child 2/difficult child 2 form her unit. The parknig was crazy - easy child 2/difficult child 2 lives within walking distance of the mall and I've never seen the streets so full of parked cars - the post-Christmas sales were in full swing.
We weren't going to the main mall, thankfully. We were going to another furnishings mall in the industrial estate. Amazingly, we got inside parking downstairs, there were plenty of parking spots. We met up with mother in law & husband inside, at the lounge chairs. difficult child 3 had already headed off to the computing gear area.
So easy child got to work and inspected all the chairs, pointing out to mother in law the more limited range she should choose from. She measures, tested, played with the controls - did everything. She's been feeling that mother in law doesn't respect her professional opinion but today clearly showed that she does. Meanwhile easy child 2/difficult child 2 was looking at the chair fabric choices and confirming for mother in law which colours would go well with her carpet and the colour of the walls and which would not. The salesman was a bit bemused - half a dozen people all advising one little old lady on which chair to buy! But hey, for a $2000 chair, he would put up with a lot.
Then when she had made her choice, husband & SIL1 did the haggling.
At one point difficult child 3 turned p, having exhausted the interest factor of the computing section. So I gave him the tape measure and sent him off to the TV section to find one that meeted our needs.
So we headed over, looked at the TVs, made our choice and did more haggling. Finding a salesman in the TV area was trickier - the place was so crowded!
Then while husband paid for the TV, I went over to check out cooktops. We've been given the money for a new one, we desperately need a new one since the old one is on its last legs. easy child & SIL1 were also browsing, they're still needing to buy the house to put this sort of stuff in but hopefully they will have their own house in the next few months.
We really got a lot done in a fairly short time. easy child & SIL1 then said goodbye and headed home while we took mother in law to the private hospital. Because of her status as a war widow, she gets preferential treatment in our health system especially in the private hospital. We're certain that the public hospital would be even more crowded than the mall!
And we were in luck - on duty were two very important doctors in her case. Her own heart specialist was on duty, plus the emergency doctor is a colleague of his who has seen mother in law before many times on previous admissions. So she was quickly seen to, there was little mucking about, she trusts these guys and felt more secure at last.
Verdict - she needs a top-up of medication and a change for a short while, she has to stay overnight and then she should be fine by tomorrow for us to bring her home.
Not sure yet how we'll work this - we have stuff to do in the mall so easy child 2/difficult child 2 suggested we get there as early as possible (say, as the gates open) and grab a parking space. Then we dash in, get everything done that we can, then head over to see how mother in law is. We'll pack more stuff for her in case the doctors want her to stay but otherwise, we'll go prepared to bring her home.
Meanwhile depending on how much time we have, we might go back and shop around a bit more for a kitchen cooktop. Like a lot of things, we just have to do what we can, as and when we are able to.
Although I spent a lot of time today sitting around waiting, I am still very tired. So it's early to bed tonight (hopefully).
Enjoy your Sunday.
Marg
I'm just grabbing a few minutes in between difficult child 3 loading various computer files, to greet you all.
We've had a fairly busy day today. mother in law has been feeling unwell for about a week now but wouldn't admit to it, she is terrified of having to go into hospital. But when her heart was still misbehaving yesterday we said to her, "You want us to go shopping tomorrow for a new TV, you need to buy yourself a new lounge chair, we will go shopping with you on one condition - you let us get you checked out by the doctor."
She reluctantly agreed, on condition we shopped for the TV first (it's her Christmas present to us). So we agreed - providing SHe shopped for the armchair before the TV! She really needs a new armchair, a good one that will recline, has a good leg rest and also will rise up to help her out of the chair. her current one is a rocker which easy child says (wearing her professional Occupational Therapist (OT) hat) is very bad for her. mother in law has been fighting this for some time but her daughter promised to pay for it so cost is not the issue.
So we all loaded up. easy child & SIL1 were to head back home to Canberra from the shopping, saving them having to come back to our place then have to head home from there. That would have saved them an hour's driving.
We therefore went in two cars, easy child & us collecting easy child 2/difficult child 2 form her unit. The parknig was crazy - easy child 2/difficult child 2 lives within walking distance of the mall and I've never seen the streets so full of parked cars - the post-Christmas sales were in full swing.
We weren't going to the main mall, thankfully. We were going to another furnishings mall in the industrial estate. Amazingly, we got inside parking downstairs, there were plenty of parking spots. We met up with mother in law & husband inside, at the lounge chairs. difficult child 3 had already headed off to the computing gear area.
So easy child got to work and inspected all the chairs, pointing out to mother in law the more limited range she should choose from. She measures, tested, played with the controls - did everything. She's been feeling that mother in law doesn't respect her professional opinion but today clearly showed that she does. Meanwhile easy child 2/difficult child 2 was looking at the chair fabric choices and confirming for mother in law which colours would go well with her carpet and the colour of the walls and which would not. The salesman was a bit bemused - half a dozen people all advising one little old lady on which chair to buy! But hey, for a $2000 chair, he would put up with a lot.
Then when she had made her choice, husband & SIL1 did the haggling.
At one point difficult child 3 turned p, having exhausted the interest factor of the computing section. So I gave him the tape measure and sent him off to the TV section to find one that meeted our needs.
So we headed over, looked at the TVs, made our choice and did more haggling. Finding a salesman in the TV area was trickier - the place was so crowded!
Then while husband paid for the TV, I went over to check out cooktops. We've been given the money for a new one, we desperately need a new one since the old one is on its last legs. easy child & SIL1 were also browsing, they're still needing to buy the house to put this sort of stuff in but hopefully they will have their own house in the next few months.
We really got a lot done in a fairly short time. easy child & SIL1 then said goodbye and headed home while we took mother in law to the private hospital. Because of her status as a war widow, she gets preferential treatment in our health system especially in the private hospital. We're certain that the public hospital would be even more crowded than the mall!
And we were in luck - on duty were two very important doctors in her case. Her own heart specialist was on duty, plus the emergency doctor is a colleague of his who has seen mother in law before many times on previous admissions. So she was quickly seen to, there was little mucking about, she trusts these guys and felt more secure at last.
Verdict - she needs a top-up of medication and a change for a short while, she has to stay overnight and then she should be fine by tomorrow for us to bring her home.
Not sure yet how we'll work this - we have stuff to do in the mall so easy child 2/difficult child 2 suggested we get there as early as possible (say, as the gates open) and grab a parking space. Then we dash in, get everything done that we can, then head over to see how mother in law is. We'll pack more stuff for her in case the doctors want her to stay but otherwise, we'll go prepared to bring her home.
Meanwhile depending on how much time we have, we might go back and shop around a bit more for a kitchen cooktop. Like a lot of things, we just have to do what we can, as and when we are able to.
Although I spent a lot of time today sitting around waiting, I am still very tired. So it's early to bed tonight (hopefully).
Enjoy your Sunday.
Marg
