Author: Jen Rios

Okay, this memory is a week old but I have been thinking about it since it happened! I am a little bit befuddled still I think this just signified a change for me.

My Mom and I have fallen into a nice routine in terms of using the van for my doctor appointments now. I am having issues with my vision and whenever I leave the house, when we arrive to the doctors office, I tell my Mom that I will meet her by the elevators, or at the doorway or something.

I really do not do much interacting with people. I do with my doctors and the technicians who take my blood or give me x-rays. the people around me do not usually talk to me. Christina has been cutting my hair and waxing my eyebrows for over 20 years. I am so comfortable with her!

But, let me tell you what happened last Wednesday. I just had gotten out of the car and I told my Mom that I’ll meet her at the doorway to Dr. Clark’s office. my Mom was right behind me. There was an elderly gentleman right in front of me with his wife. He looked directly at me and asked if I wanted him to hold the door for me. I was a bit startled, because people do not usually talk to me told him that my caregiver was right behind me.

it was as if it was on cue because my Mom was right there and she asked the man if he would hold one door while she held the other door for me. He had no problem doing that and his wife followed behind me. I was completely embarrassed!

I think I must’ve said thank you seven or eight times. I felt like that lady who wins second place or something at the last concert before the von Trapp family goes over the mountains and she bows a whole bunch in The Sound of Music.
It was a strange feeling for me. Because I don’t interact with people because me and my Mom are working. I need to be focused and we know what we need to do. it felt strange to see that kindness. It was like I was the queen of Sheba rolling through the doors that were wide open for me.

After my appointment with Dr. Clark, my Mom was paying the bill and asking me for the supplements that I needed and I was just calling out to her what I needed.
it was busy in the waiting room. I was a little bit shocked but then here comes the change.

I think I need a smaller coat. But I use the coat I have been using for years. Because there was so much material, I couldn’t control it with my hands, and my Mom had to put my coat on and zip it up for me. I muttered to her, “Like a child..” She smiled at me warmly like she always does and she said, “No, I am just helping you, because you cannot do it yourself.”

There was a woman by us in her late 20s probably and right after we said that to each other, she jumped up and offered to open the other door. I repeated my embarrassed over-thanking, and I could feel my eyes beginning to well. But then I come outside, and there is a man right next to the van, who just stood by his door and waited for me to get situated.

I have to go the long way, because I am left-handed. He just sat in his car and waited until we closed the van, and drove away before he moved. When I saw that, I just started to cry!

I have NEVER witnessed not one, or two, but three nice things from strangers, and it was a little bit overwhelming!

So, I went to the pain clinic on September 27 and the doctor looked at my knee and pressed it in two spots. Both spots he pressed; hurt! He gave me a new tens unit prescription and asked me to get a new x-ray of my knee because the last one was done in 2019.

I opted to get my x-ray the day we were going to the cider mill to my Mother’s chagrin! But, it all got done! I was for sure stressed before we left for the x-ray but I had a passing thought that maybe I could just have the x-ray while I am sitting in my chair.

We went through the same rig-a-ma-role about the doctor I saw, and the fact that this is a Worker’s Comp. injury. My Mom told them just to put it on my normal insurance and we will let them fight it out in the days and months to come.

I have yet to see if there’s a big dispute about it but the x-ray tech, Amanda, was wonderful! My Mom came with me and we weren’t sure how we were going to get me onto the table. Amanda thought about it for a moment and had me come around to the backside of the table so that I could remain sitting in my chair to get the x-rays of my right knee.

My Mom just held the board between my thighs. Amanda was able to get her first shot and then she asked me if she could put tape on my skin. I don’t have a problem with that so I told her it was no problem. I remember that my Dad had a problem with tape being put on his skin. Amanda taped my knee to the board as my Mom still held the board between my thighs.

She was able to get both x-rays and I’m still waiting for the doctor to review them. I read the results which made no sense to me but it does say that I have osteoarthritis. Well, of course I would have it! The two knee injuries that I have had on this knee, I remember my physical therapist at ATI, Brad, told me that in order for you to tear a ligament, your bones have to hit quite traumatically!

Well, I have done that to my right knee twice! Both times were NOT my fault!!!

I woke up this morning, knowing that it would be a recovery day. as I am trying to wake up and become coherent, I scroll absentmindedly through Facebook and I saw this today:

I thought that I would show my Mom because both of us have completed our ballots already. When she came to get me out of bed today, she told me that she put them in the dropbox at City Hall. I was happy to hear that because this year was the first year that I received one of these stickers that I can’t wait to put on my phone because now it’s true:

check out Me being civically responsible!!!

Tomorrow morning marks ‘go time’ and my mind is racing!!! Getting up and out of the house is getting harder! So much harder! I need to go to the naturopath and then we are getting haircut. Thursday we are going to a cider Mill after I get an x-ray and pay my water bill.

And because it’s October now, I am getting lasagna!!! I’m so glad that I can still eat that! It’s getting cold now and I need the warmth!