As I mentioned previously, I took her to the dentist on Monday. Her dentures had become a concern, so we had found a dentist (who she likes) on her dental plan. We had previously agreed to get her a brand new set of dentures, and paid $400 for the lab expenses; the rest was taken care of by her combination Medicare/Medi-Cal insurance. The problem was, she said the new dentures made her mouth hurt, and she wouldn't wear them. (Insert exasperated eyeroll here.)
On the last visit prior to this one, they put a soft liner in the dentures, which helped; then on this most recent visit, the dentist sculpted the dentures with her handy Dremel tool until they finally fit! Now mom is wearing her new dentures relatively happily. We're going back next Tuesday to see if any other adjustments need to be made.
As for the other adventure this week...a few months ago, the Queen Mother's regular glasses were accidentally run over (!) after one of her other appointments. We fixed her glasses for the short term, then made her an eye appointment to see if her prescription had changed before getting the new glasses. She has cataracts in both eyes, but they're not debilitating yet; nevertheless, there was a small change to her prescription. We picked out nice new frames, paid for them and the lenses, and picked up the new glasses today. Unlike the new dentures, she took to her new glasses right away.
Getting her to and from her appointments is often a process with several moving parts: there's moving the car, supporting mom as she exits the house, having her wheelchair ready to go (for walking outdoors, even with the support of canes or a walker, is no longer feasible for her), getting her in the wheelchair, wheeling her over to the car, helping her get out of the wheelchair and into the car, folding up the wheelchair and stowing it in the trunk, getting her canes into the car, and finally belting her in the seat (then securing my seat belt) before we can hit the road. When we get to the appointment, it's a matter of helping her out of the car and into the wheelhair. I then push the chair - which she calls her "chariot" - to the appropriate doctor's office, while Himself finds a decent parking spot and settles in to wait for us. The entire process then gets reversed when we're done with the appointment.
I mention this because I try to schedule only one appointment per week for the Queen Mother, as it is a labor-intensive process...and the uneven roads jostle her back, no matter how carefully we drive, so she's complaining almost nonstop about being in pain. This week, however, we wound up having two appointments - but since one of them was to get her new glasses, something she was very eager to get, she didn't complain as much as she could have, which made the trip easier for me as well.
Now if only I could convince her to get fitted for hearing aids - !
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