less good

the last couple days have been hard.

Dad is too weak to walk and while he has strong grip and can lift his arms he has real trouble filling a spoon or aiming it at his mouth.

he is bordering on combative when he can't get what he wants. ( cut for bodily function talk )

he starts thrashing around and refusing to listen and saying odd stuff.

"Trump! I need to Trump!"
"Master and Commander. I have a 26lb master and commander."

he is different than he was after the first surgery of this trip (or my memories of previous surgeries) and I am starting to get scared.

* * *

Dr. G has a lab coat with frog closures. I don't think I've seen that before.

* * *

Eventually he's going to move from the regular hospital to inpatient rehab, which is in the building next door. I'm glad of this - he will get wheeled across a skybridge instead of loaded in a transport, and his medical team won't change.

I spent part of today buying groceries and a lunch bag so that we can spend less on eating out. Mom is starting to fret about the cost of being in Pittsburgh that we're past the original hospital discharge date and there's not a clear exit. I have already told work that I won't be able to attempt to log in until late this week.

different places different people

even though Seattle includes the most diverse zip code in the US, the town as a whole is pretty white. this means that while there are products available for textured hair, there isn't the full range that gets discussed in curly hair forums.

I lost a lot of time at Target today just goggling at the textured hair aisle that is easily twice the size of the one at home. breadth and depth, plus so many sample sizes of All The Things. I thought about filling a basket full,

BUT

The climate here is completely different, so something that works here is likely to be overkill at home. I finally understand all the people layering three moisturizers and coating their hair in oil. I tried my usual overnight routine - little vertical ponytails to sleep, in the morning finger comb and let the steam from the shower reactivate the curl - and it failed completely. Totally the unruly straight hair of my childhood. So far I have to wet my head daily, use a heavy conditioner, and cover it with product to seal. At least it dries by the time I've eaten breakfast.

I may yet buy samples and ship them home since there would be too many to carry on.