Tag: family

Mom’s Medical

Yesterday was my mom’s regular doctor’s visit. The day before, when I was at her place and submitted the request for the SSI application, she said that “she has a disability.” That was news to me because she never mentioned that she had anything that would classify her as a disabled person. She said, however, that she has a paper from her doctor in Russia about that.

I asked her to find this paper and to bring it with her to the doctor’s office. When we came to the office and sat down there waiting to be called, she showed me the papers. It was something incredibly weird, and now that I am thinking about it, I believe that she mentioned it a long while ago – I just didn’t pay attention. These papers didn’t contain any diagnosis; instead, the paper said that she has a “general illness,” which causes her “disability of the third degree” – the least one, that allowed a person to work. The form was hand-filled and had some official seals but no supporting documents. I told her that I had no idea what it meant and that nothing like this would be considered as a reason for disability benefits. Then she became very upset and started her usual spill in an elevated tone about how when my friend Irina was alive, she could ask her anything about her medical conditions, and Irina would reply, and now that Irina passed away there is nobody whom she can ask, and all the rest what she usually says in this case.

Further in the conversation, I learned that she had fallen down in the bathroom the other day, and her elbow was bleeding, and it took her a while to get out of it. When I brought up the topic of having some help, she told me she did not need any and could do everything at home by herself.
The subsequent conversation with the doctor was somehow more optimistic. I think that’s because the doctor “saw it all,” and she reassured me that “everything is typical,” and it’s great that my mom started using her cane when she goes to the bathroom at night. After this conversation, I realized there was no way I could prevent all the accidents that could happen with my mom, and I just needed to accept it and not stress out either her or me. Another good thing is that although mom’s doctor is moving to another clinic, it’s not as far as I thought, and mom will still be able to see her.

Vlad & Dylon Wedding Photos – 3

Before I forget!

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Camping

I spent a weekend in a very non-typical way for me: camping with Anna, the girls, and Anna’s friends in the Harrington Beach National Park. camping is not my kind of activity, but since this weekend was supposed to be girls’ weekend, and since I already cleared it out, and since after twelve days of complete and partial isolations, I was eager to do something outside the house and my comfort zone in general, I went for it.

It was great, although the heavy rain on Saturday night made it challenging, and at some point, we all were unsure whether it was a good idea. Then the rain stopped, and we had a great time by the campfire (and we had a really nice walk before the rain started). there was more rain during the night, but at about 8-30 AM, the sun went out, and life was beautiful again:).

I enjoyed the nature walk and being close to Lake Michigan at yet another point. 🙂

It was close to impossible to pass this apple tree and not to pick even one apple, not even the ones lying on the ground!
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Vlad & Dylon Wedding Photos – 2

Continue reading “Vlad & Dylon Wedding Photos – 2” →

Vlad & Dylon Wedding Photos

I have the official photos for a couple of weeks now, but there are too many, and they all are too awesome to choose any reasonable number to display. Thereby, it’s hard for me to tell how many wedding photos posts will follow. This one will be most definitely not the last one 🙂

Continue reading “Vlad & Dylon Wedding Photos” →

More Updates

I tried to stop by my mom today, explaining here in advance that I am just stopping by for five minutes (she is on day three of isolation). I have no idea whether reinfection may or may not happen, and I have no desire to experiment. She previously asked for Russian Rye bread, which meant that I had to wait until today to be able to go to the actual store. I didn’t find any Russian Rye, but I found a German Rye and some marmalade. When I came to her, I realized that she didn’t get the concept of “for a couple of minutes” and wanted me to look at what was not working on her phone and at the blood pressure monitor, and change the printer cartridge, and whatever else.

I yelled at her that this could wait until she was out of isolation, and she started to ask whether she would need a mask if she decided to go for a walk tomorrow morning. And she asked me at least twenty times whether she could use a KN95 mask more than once…

Also, it’s close to impossible to make her track her symptoms, and I am going to stop now because my rants won’t change anything.

The good part of today: I biked to the Mill and back. And there are going to be a couple more warm days. And I finished Chapter 13 🙂

My Trip To London…

It is not going to happen after all, and that’s one of these situations when the universe tells me loud and clear that I should not. I feel fine, and I didn’t have any fever today, but my test was still positive (which was expected, to be honest).

I was thinking about whether I would still be able to go, having all the dates and guidelines, when I need to test, and so on, but today, my mom tested positive (which is in perfect alignment with when I think was my first day sick).

Having this, and having that she does not understand what the symptoms could be and she does not understand what isolation means, I am afraid to leave.

Oh, well. I hope that things will not be that bad with her.

Mega March Unbreakable Nation

Twenty-Eight Years Ago, I Think

There is no specific reason to make this random photo a birthday photo. I just thought that I needed to post something different from my usual two tiny babies and me. At least, I think Anna can relate :).

Happy birthday, my extraordinary twins!

***

I used to think that Boris was not involved enough in Vlad’s and Anna’s early years, and it might be objectively so, but he often remembers things that I had forgotten.

Last week, he asked me whether I remember Vlad’s “very important question.” He said that Vlad was about eight or nine years old then, but I still can’t recall the episode. Maybe it was during the summer of 2000 when I started my consulting job, and Boris was without any job and didn’t move to Finland yet, and babysat Vlad and Anna.

According to Boris, Vlad walked into the room and announced that he had a very important question, and his whole future depended on the answer. He knew that “grown-ups don’t play with toys,” and he worried what would happen if he still loved playing with his toys when he grew up :).

***

Happy birthday 🙂

While I Was Away

My mom has this idea “not to bother/upset me when I am traveling,” which creates all sorts of problems. I am always prepared for some surprises upon arrival, and this time I just could read between the lines that something had happened at the end of the week. Weighting on all my options (see the previous post), I decided to make an effort and stop by her on the night when I arrived. Fortunately, our flight arrived on time, even a little bit earlier, and also, there was no wait at passport control and at the luggage carousel.

I called her at about 6-45 and told her I would stop by. After a relatively long discussion about her phone and how she couldn’t reach her Russian bank, I told her that Boris would look at her phone when he would come. Then I looked at the text messages on her Russian phone and realized that her scheduled payments were already restored (there was a message about the successful payment processing). Then I showed her a message I received about the plumbing inspection, and she said that “actually, the shower switch was not working.” I tried to ask her why she didn’t ask Igor to call the management company or the handyman who gave her his number, and she replied something like “Igor has a long commute to his office.”

But that was not it. After we discussed all of the above (and remember, it was evening when I flew in), she told me that when she went for a walk on Friday, “something happened.” She was talking to a person she sometimes meets when walking, and it looked like she fainted. Thee happened to be a Russian-speaking person nearby (a caregiver of one old lady), who lifted her up, and called the personnel on the beach. My mom didn’t call Igor, and she didn’t tell him, so now we have no way to tell what exactly happened. All I am describing is “maybe- possibly.”

The paramedics put her in the wheelchair, which she was trying to resist (thank goodness they didn’t call mental services!). They took a blood test and EKG, presumably nothing dangerous because, in the end, they let her go). I was mad and scared, and I yelled at her (I hate to do this, but otherwise, she does not understand the severity of the problem).

I need to come up with the questionnaire to make sure we can figure out what she is trying to hide because otherwise, she “does not want to bother me” and does not want to tell Igor, and this all might end up badly.