Morning, Cantina. Two weeks since my last post (life was generalized busy) and mom's still doing well. Last week, she got a super great report from her rheumatologist that her blood work shows that the vasculitis is now under control. Apparently, her June hospitalization was 100% caused by the infection that set up due to excess mucus, so now she's on nebulizer treatments that break that stuff up and get it out and there have been no more issues with that. Her in-home PT even got her doing this one particular exercise this week that resulted in her oxygen count going UP instead of down, which was a wonderful indicator of improvement. It's going to be a slow journey to regaining her previous strength, and eventually getting weaned off of needing oxygen 24/7 but she and her doctors feel she's hit a real turning point.
The only major news besides that is that I'm *finally* scheduled to take my driver's test on the 15th. I've been the designated driver for my parents for the past several months, so yeah, even dad has to admit that it's time to get this done. Shockingly, dad didn't have an anxiety fit about it when mom told him we'd scheduled it. I think he's finally gotten it through his head that it's not as big a complicated woopty-doo as he thought it was, and it makes him feel better that this DMV has a closed course behind the building so I'm not going to go out on public roads with a stranger, which has long been a huge source of anxiety for him for years. (Because he doesn't have anxiety problems and doesn't need to be treated for it, nope.)
The only thing I'm really worried about is that the test wants me to be able to back into a parking spot surrounded by cones. The problem is, despite driving for 15 years, I don't have experience doing that because dad DETESTS people backing into parking spots, (he sees it as inconsiderate because many people aren't actually good at it and hold up traffic longer than necessary just to do it) so my parents never do it, and neither do I. An additional problem I discovered upon going to an empty school parking lot to practice this for the first time is that I literally cannot see ANYTHING on the ground behind our CRV, no matter whether I look in the mirrors or twist around to look out the back window. I did manage to back into a space multiple times, generally straight, after trying a bunch of times, but was completely dependent on our backup camera. The driving test grades you, in part, on use of mirrors, so I may just have to pretend to look in the mirrors while actually watching the back up cam screen.
I'm kind of hoping that the presence of cones will actually help, since I'd be able to see those better. Hopefully I'll get more chances to practice before then, though.
ETA: Oh, and I also, finally, finished adding alt text to all the photos in all my Etsy listings. Yes, all 940-ish photos. *is ded but hopeful that making the effort might help someone*