Last night Dad and I went to a movie for the first time since 2011 or earlier. We went to Regency AMC 20 in Brandon and saw Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. I had a lot of worries about Dad's ability to enjoy the movie that fortunately turned out to be unfounded. On with the show, or at least my production of it.
I chose our seats online the day before when I bought the tickets. This seemed important since Dad would be sitting in his wheelchair. I didn't trust his ability to walk down an aisle of seats and also wanted to be able to sit right next to him in case he needed help with anything. He knew beforehand that he'd be sitting in his chair for the duration of the movie.
Wheelchair Amenities
I thought Dad might be more comfortable if we put the footrests/leg lifts on his chair. These attachments stick out either a bit or a lot (a lot if we have the right leg lifted out straight in front of him) which translates into a tendency for me to bump him into things. We hadn't used those in quite some time because he does so well with holding his legs up for the distances we usually travel AND the edema in his right leg and foot has been minimal or absent most of the time for more than a year. I haven't asked him if we did it over again whether he'd want the foot rests/leg lifts. It doesn't really matter because the next time we go I'll ask him how he feels about it at the time. His energy levels can vary quite a bit. Mostly I was concerned that he'd feel left out or like a second class citizen if he saw everyone else reclining and putting up their feet. Wasn't an issue tho. The theatre we were in had more legroom than the old style theatres and the seats did lean back a little, but nobody had footrests.
Can You Hear Me Now?/ AKA WHAT?- WHAT?
Dad's hearing aids have had lots of battery problems lately. Likely this is due to a bad batch of batteries supplied by the VA and apparently this situation is a known issue. The VA has procedures in place for bad boxes of batteries and bad boxes of replacement batteries. Luckily we didn't have trouble with VA batteries until he got his most recent hearing aids. The batteries these take are only half as thick as the previous ones. While I don't understand why, this new size of batteries has been extremely unreliable. Just like a former helper said happened with her husband, you can go thru a whole pack of 6 batteries and only one or two will actually have enough power to work. That's disgustingly poor for new batteries sealed in the package, stamped with an expiration date a year or two away.
I was worried that he might not be able to hear the movie - big misunderstanding there! It was so loud I wished I had earplugs. I thought about taking a set right before we left, but didn't feel I had quite enough time to scrounge around and locate them. I think I started wishing for earplugs in movies decades ago. The volume is more than loud enough to hear clearly while holding my fingers or hands over my ears, so I'm 99% sure I'd still hear it all great with ear plugs. During the previews Dad said he didn't think he'd need the headset from the theatre with the amplified sound. I wasn't able to get it to work anyway. I would have put the headphones on myself, except I was so damn hot!
I'm Cold, Are You Cold? Isn't it Cold In Here?
Thinking that theatres have been just as cold or colder than office buildings for a long time, I encouraged Dad to take his jacket just in case. His charcot arthropathy has resulted in a right ankle that's bigger than his knee even when no swelling is present. To manage this he wears custom molded shoes, ideally from the time he wakes up to the time he climbs in bed each night, minus time for showering. This is to offload a portion of the sole of his foot where he had acute osteomyelitis and eventually a chronic ulcer. Dad's very lucky to have excellent medical care, but these situations come on very quickly and are challenging to manage and heal. So Dad puts on his shoes right out of the shower to walk back to his chair (with his walker). But he doesn't leave the house every day, so he stays in his boxers and t-shirt, which counts as pajamas in our family. When we do leave the house, it's a lot easier to manage dressing if he wears shorts instead of pants. That's a change we made back in 2011 when he got his first CROW walker. The series of boots he had were nearly knee high. I'm sure it's easy to imagine why wearing shorts with such a boot would be easier than wearing pants.
i was going to continue on and talk about our evening and the movie. the movie was visually very interesting. the ghost pirates were pretty mesmerizing. in particular Salazar's floating hair captured my attention. also i was very pleased to learn why jack was named sparrow. i'd always wondered since it's not an intimidating name. unfortunately i was so nauseated and hot and uncomfortable and starting to get a headache for pretty much the entire time. i don't know why i felt so bad. at times the camera movement and shifting angles quickly really bothered me. as of this afternoon, tho, i wonder if it was mostly a side effect of a pain medication i started for my knees. i sure hope it's not making me feel sick. i'm not sure it does much to reduce the pain anyway, so it might be an easy decision just to drop it.
don't know what i'm going to do here, tho. there are so many things i'd like to share. it's just too hard to fight with the formatting right now. maybe later. *crossing fingers!*
