toe nails

i have been spending a lot of time with my grandpa these past few weeks. my parents have been on an amazing cruise for 3 weeks so i have stepped up my visits with grandpa so that he isn't so lonely. i have taken his pants in to be drycleaned, picked up random stuff for him from the store (such as hickory sticks and mints), helped him fill in his new phone book, taken him to 2 eye appointments and today i had the lovely pleasure of escorting him to the podiatrist. i didn't know what i was in for. i sort of thought i would just pick him up, drive him there, wait for him in the waiting room and drive him back home. but no.

some background on my dear grandpa. he hates being late.....not only does he hate being late, he hates there even being the slightest possibility of being late. he is also seriously lacking in confidence so he doesn't trust his eyes or eyes to get him from point A to point B.

his appointment was at 11am. he asked me to pick him up NO LATER than 10:30. the appointment was literally a 2 minute drive from his house. when i arrived to pick him up he was sitting in the lobby with his coat on, hat on, sunglasses on, and his walker. when i walked in he shot up and was ready to leave. we were in my car by 10:33, with his walker safely stowed in my trunk. we drove to the dr.'s office and i found a spot to parallel park right in front of the office. we were in the office by 10:38. so we sat and waited......and waited....and waited. MANY people went in and out. the office was filled with the elderly. i guess they are the main ones who need someone to clip their toe nails for them. one thing about older folk is that they don't realize how loud their voices are. my grandpa told me a very lengthy, and in depth story about his nausea and diarrhea that took place from saturday afternoon to sunday morning. good times!!!! i am sure my face was bright red as i noticed the lady across from me, who had accompanied her mother, snicker. by the time grandpa was called in to the office it was 11:25. he got into the chair (much like a dentist chair) and asked me to remove his socks and shoes for him because he wanted to be ready as soon as the dr. arrived so there wouldn't be any time wasted. i was not looking forward tot his, i removed his shoes no problem, but taking off his socks made me cringe. they were tight, especially on his left leg which is always swollen due to having a vein removed for his heart transplant. once they were off we sat and waited another 10 minutes. when the doctor showed up he clipped those nails so fast and then pulled out this crazy drill looking contraption. he turned it on and boy was it loud. then he grabbed the end of a vacuum hose and held it close to the drill/file thing. he then "chiseled" away at my grandpa's big toe nail on his left foot. as he did all the filing were sucked into the vacuum. it was a rather nasty process. then he went on to the other foot. man oh man i could NEVER do that job. it literally only took him 5 minutes to do all of my grandpa's nails. the doctor left and i then put my grandpa's socks and shoes back on, loaded him into my car and took him back home. we walked back into his place at 11:55.....5 minutes before lunch.

what a morning.