Welcome 2010!

Happy New Year!

I have been missing in action on this blog a few days, but I did get a visit from  these sweet things. We did see Avatar while they were here. They left early this morning and are already back in South Carolina. Today I finally went to see The Blind Side. Two movies in two days just has me wanting more and realizing that I have missed going to the movies and zoning out.

Ray Stevens - We The People - RayStevens.com

A child is born!

The baby that we were hoping would not come while he was at Christmas dinner at my brother's yesterday made his appearance this morning. Thank goodness he waited a few hours!

Today was a most lazy day until about 2 this afternoon when I started playing around with my new computer. Made my first movie with photos and music. It was fun to toy around with.

Tomorrow I plan to put everything Christmas in the attic for another year. I was a Scrooge this year and didn't have much out. It was just too cold in the attic to look for stuff, so I didn't!

Have been invited to a New Year's Day lunch, then the real partying starts with Mardi Gras. I don't expect to do much partying this year. I'll be afraid my daddy is "watching" me!!!:)

I survived!

Although there were a few bumps emotionally, I managed to get through my first Christmas ever without my dad. Today was much better than yesterday. We ate Christmas dinner at my brother's home with our same friends from  last night plus 3 extras.....an airman, his wife and little girl who are stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base with no family around. His wife just lost her mother in November, so it was a nice diversion for them as well. He is from Indiana and she is from Maine, so we were happy to have them. She is a few days from delivery of a boy, so we were glad today wasn't the day!!!

Failed milestone!

I wasn't able to hold it together yesterday. When I went to Mom's to take her to the candlelight service, she sat down and wrote my brother and me each a substantial check. They had already done this in August right after Dad was diagnosed with his brain tumor, so we were not expecting it again. She said Dad's favorite part of Christmas was being able to give us that much money and she wanted to do it just like he would have. Then last night at our friends' house, she gave it to us and told us it was from Dad. Then our friends gave us a picture frame with a picture of Dad in it from a previous Christmas. Well, actually we only got the frames, but they showed us on the computer the picture they had ordered to go in the frame. Instead of printing it themselves or having Wal Mart print it, they were having it printed somewhere else and it wasn't back yet. Hopefully, today won't be as hard.

Merry Christmas everyone!

One more party down last night. Tonight is church candlelight service and our usual get together with friends. We have always gone to my brother's lakehouse for our Christmas Eve gift exchange and meal, but tonight we are going to our friends' home so we won't feel the dramatic loss of Dad not being there.

Tomorrow we are switching things up as well. We always have Christmas dinner at Mom's and our friends join us there for Mom's chicken and dressing. This year, we are going to my brother's home and his wife is cooking duck dressing. Again, we hope to diffuse the pain of not having Dad with us. No matter how hard we try not to, we miss him terribly. I have tears just typing that!

Great Day!

When I went to check on Mom today, it was my plan to pick up the rest of the pecans. Stewart had already told her the crows ate them all, but I went to look for myself. Yes, there are hulls everywhere as evidence that the crows had a feast. Merry Christmas, crows!!!!

Then I moved on to another project, which was mulching leaves in the front yard. My brother had already cleaned the back yard before he went on vacation. It took me all morning, but it looked nice when I left. There are very few leaves left to fall, but they were flying when I left.

Home health sent a wheel chair to Mom's today because the wound care specialist told her to stay off her foot and she will need one after she has surgery on her foot. It will give us time to move things that are in the way and her time to get used to using it before her surgery.

I took my brother a box of Kansas City steaks , a honey baked ham from Heavenly Hams, and I made them a box of pralines. They don't need anything, but I wanted to do something for them. They are so good about taking care of Mom and checking on her several times a day. Of course, she is his mom, too, but lots of men wouldn't do as good as he does about looking after his mother.

Full day!

My sister-in-law brought mom to the doctor's office this morning and I met her there. She saw the physician's assistant and we already have surgery scheduled for January 8th. He wanted a wound care specialist to look at it and make sure all the infection was getting gone. He said they could not put pins through any infection because it would just push the infection into the bone. We sure don't want that. It took us ALL day to do those things. I have been home about 20 minutes...made a grilled cheese before I passed out from hunger. I have a lot of things I need to do, but I don't want to do a damn thing!!!

Holy Moly!

Because I am at the computer and too lazy to get up and turn off the TV, I am "listening" to a preacher on TV that sounds like he is dying and gasping for breath! Not sure how much more of it I can take!

It's been a busy weekend with work on the Mardi Gras float and trying to finish making candy and buying Christmas presents. Almost finished......CRAP....That preacher made me get up and turn him off! I would have to leave if I was in that service!

Tomorrow we take Mom to the Physician's Assistant and get an evaluation of her foot. It is still doing pretty well after the foot doctor got all that infection out of it, but she is trying to stay off of it like he told her. He even sent a home health nurse down to change the dressing on Saturday. I don't think she was expecting that.

I tried to take advantage of some warmer weather yesterday and clean up the frozen plants in the yard. Now I have them piled everywhere. I guess I will go get Dad's truck and haul them to a burning pile down at the home place. We need to run his truck, but we haven't been doing it.

100's gather to protest global warming!

Crappy doodle day!

Actually, it's just the weather that is crappy doodle! At 3 P.M. I thought it was 6 because it has been so dark all day. Today our lunch bunch had our last lunch together before Christmas, so everyone came bearing gifts...mostly edibles! Yep, that works for me.

 My brother had dropped Mom off at my house while I was gone to lunch so I could take her to the podiatrist. That man took the callous off and lots of puss drained from her toe. He didn't even deaden it. When my cousin did that a couple of weeks ago, he at least deadened it first. No wonder she doesn't like that foot doctor. I don't like him either and I never even met him. He could have not hurt her so bad.

Tonight we were supposed to go see "The Blind Side", but my friend crapped out on me. I was glad. All I want to do is sit by the fire and drink a warm cozy beverage!

Semi-productive day!

Checked on Mom today and made her an appointment with an orthopedic physician's assistant because we can't get in to the doctor until after the new year. The assistant can evaluate and determine what needs to be done and get the ball rolling. Something has to be done with her foot.Her cousin is an orthopedic surgeon, but he doesn't do feet. He referred her to a surgeon here in Minden. He doesn't want her to let a foot doctor cut on her. He said he would rather read up on what to do and do it himself than let a foot doctor do it. I guess he doesn't trust foot doctors!!

Also, had to call her insurance company because Dad's gap insurance was paid up for a year and she just paid it in April. They owe her a refund. It's kind of ironic that I am having to make all these phone calls since I hate, hate, hate to make phone calls.

Started making my usual pralines and fudge. Thank goodness I had one box already prepared and boxed because my neighbor came over bearing gifts and I was able to hand him one right back. Whew!

Mardi Gras preparations have begun. Worked on the float last night. I will not be riding in the Gemini parade this year. It's just too long and grueling. I was so exhausted last year and when we left the grounds where our cars were parked, we had to pass right by where a fireman had fallen from his truck. That fireman died this weekend. Such a tragedy!

Ummmmm....NO...not yet!

My neighbor invited me to a luncheon at the church for single adults. I told him that I would not know anybody there. He assured me I would. He was wrong. I didn't know anybody and on top of that I was the youngest one there and I didn't have a walker. WTH! I'm old, but not THAT old. Not only that, but there was a program planned for after lunch. I just was not interested in being there, so I left after lunch. Sorry, Mr. Neighbor, I'm just not ready for that yet!

Great night!

Being a former party animal, one would think that my Sunday School party would be boring to me. So not true. It was awesome! Such great people in my class. The name of the class is "We Care" and we truly do care about each other and others. One of our members just opened a brand new event facility in downtown Minden called Orleans on Main. He rents this building for $650 for events. It is beautiful and has tables with beautiful decorations and real table cloths. He hosted the party there for free and even catered the event himself. He is a top notch guy who really gives back to his community. We each brought a new toy and gave them to Toys for Tots.Two Marines were there to receive the gifts.
 Tomorrow night I will be going back to the same facility, but that will be our Mardi Gras krewe party....much different scenario! Also, tomorrow is our neighborhood brunch. OK....I guess I am still a party animal!!!

Mission #3 Accomplished!

Without even one roadblock, I got all my assignments done today which included calling the companies holding Dad's life insurance policies. They were all very cooperative and sorry for my loss. Now we have to start a file to keep all the stuff in that we will need upon our mom's death. It will save us lots of headaches at that time. We are having to place a value upon everything at the time of his death...land, vehicles, oil and gas revenues, timber...EVERYTHING. It's going to be really bad after Mom is gone because she in in a part of undivided acreage. YIKES! What a headache that will be to get that divided up between 9 grandchildren after Mom and her sister are gone. Her family could just never agree on the division. There is still $20,000 in my grandfather's checking account and he died in 1986. Mom just pays property taxes from it every year and it just sits there earning ZERO percent!!! Now....if I could just get motivated for Christmas. I thought the cold weather would help, but it hasn't  YET! I told Mom today that I was glad Dad didn't have to be cold this year. He hated cold weather and was always cold.

Step 2!

Step 1 was to find all the stuff the lawyer needed after Dad died. Today we went to the lawyer for the first visit. Wow! Lots of stuff to do. I have a list of 5 things to do as my homework! Tomorrow I will be calling the companies where Dad had life insurance policies. One of his IRA'a had a life insurance policy that came with it for $1000 if the owner dies from lung cancer or brain cancer. He died from both, but I have to get doctor records to prove it. Mom thought his will was at the lawyer's office, but they did not find it. She and my brother were going to the bank to look in the safety deposit box. I already tried, but since my name was not on the box, I was unable to look in it. Won't really matter if they don't find it because Louisiana law already provides the exact same things the will would say. Half to Mom with full usufruct until her death when it all passes to my brother and me.
UPDATE: The will was in the box at the bank!

Not at all disrespecful!

My great, great grandfather got his finger shot off while carrying this flag in the Civil War. He got gangrene in the finger and put his hands behind his back and pulled the finger off! OUCH!

Check it off!

• Changed sheets
• washed clothes
• worked crossword in paper
  
• made potato soup
• went to bank
• took soup to Mom
• cleaned her kitchen
• went to bank for her
• took stuff to Goodwill
  

All before 2:00

Then took a LONG nap!

My poor mom!

Her foot is bad again in spite of all the high powered antibiotics. Because it is her hammertoe that is causing the problem, we are pretty sure she is going to have to see a foot specialist and get some surgery on it. Our friend, who is a physical therapist, looked at it yesterday and he explained what is happening and he said it is going to continue to do that until part of the toe is removed. I hate for her to have to do that, but she sees a foot doctor every couple of months to get her nails cut. She doesn't particularly like him, but he is the only one who comes to the local hospital.

It's been a long time since I failed to send Christmas cards, but it is looking more and more like this may be the year. I simply cannot get in the mood to do it and I usually enjoy doing it every year. I sure do enjoy hearing from others at Christmas time. I think most of the people on my Christmas list know that I just lost my dad, so they will probably understand.

Woo Hoo! My brother will be back tonight. I have missed him this week.

New Mom update!

I could tell when I got to Mom's this morning that her foot was better. It was all over her face that she was not in such pain. We escaped going to the hospital this time , but she got another shot. Tomorrow we will get another shot and hope she continues to improve. Eventually, I think she will have to have some work done on that foot due to misshapen toes that are causing the problem. I got all the outside water hydrants winterized for the coming weather at her house.

I also got to have lunch with our lunch bunch today. Seems like a long time since I have been able to meet them for lunch and it was nice.

All my buds down in South Texas are expecting snow tomorrow. They even had snow last year in December while I, at 200 miles further north, have had none! What's up with that? I want snow. Of course, if my driveway iced up I would be stuck because it goes uphill!!!

Mom update!

Mom was no better today and in a great deal of pain. She took a darvocet just to be able to go to the doctor, but we went. He thought her foot might have looked a little better, but it surely didn't feel better. She got another high powered antibiotic shot and we will give it one more day to get better. X-ray did not show any bone involvement with infection and blood work was OK, so he was willing to give her one more day before admitting her and putting her on IV antibiotics. She is home resting, I hope.

I borrowed my brother's new carpet steam cleaning machine and got my carpet clean. I don't have very much carpet, but it is light in color and looks much better.

On a very positive note, that stuff doc prescribed for my cough worked miracles! I SLEPT! It is so freakin' cold that I am not motivated to go in the attic and get Christmas stuff, so Christmas cards may be late or non-existent. Merry Christmas and Andrea Bocelli ROCKS, by the way!

It's COLD!

I took Mom to the doc today and ended up with her at the hospital getting her foot x-rayed. Doc is afraid of infection getting in the bone and traveling to her heart or somewhere else. He's also afraid of a staph infection. He actually wanted to put her in the hospital on IV antibiotics, but we opted to get a shot today and tomorrow and finish the levoquin that our cousin gave her yesterday. If my brother wasn't on vacation, we probably would have gone on to the hospital, but he would feel like he needed to get back home if Mom was in the hospital. We didn't want him to cut his trip short. He needs the break. If her foot continues to be swollen and painful, then we will opt for the IV treatment. Of course, doc heard my atrocious cough while I was with Mom and he prescribed some industrial strength cough medicine. It seems to be helping so far...it's cherutussin AC with codiene. Maybe now I can stop coughing long enough to go in the attic and find some Christmas stuff and get with the program. A little snowfall on Friday might help me get started!!

Busy week ahead!

My brother looks in on Mom several times a day and I do once a day, but tomorrow he leaves for a little much needed R&R. I will be checking on her more frequently although I don't live as close as he does, so it requires more effort for me. We have some local guys on her call list to come pick her up if she falls. Her foot needs attention again, so I will be taking her to Bossier tomorrow morning to let doc look at it. On Tuesday she has another appointment, so I will take her to that as well.

I'm thinking of taking a little R&R trip soon. Not sure where I will go. I have two friends who want me to go to D.C. in AUGUST to Glenn Beck's march on Washington. I am just not up for that. It's too HOT in August and it's too far to walk to the Lincoln Memorial. My back won't hold up long anymore. Even working in my own yard requires me to sit down a few minutes pretty regularly. I love Glenn Beck, but not enough to get in that crowd and sweat and hurt!

FAIL!

Since I have a new computer, I thought  I would test out my skills and try to make a copy  of the DVD of my dad's funeral. It said it burned it, but when I put it in the DVD on my TV, I got an error message. When I play it off my hard drive where I saved it, it has no sound! CRAP! I need some skillz! By the way, I like to have never figured out how to get the dang TV off the DVD mode. I need some skillz! I played the original again on my new computer and sat here and cried like a baby once again! My dad was a wonderful man and now I am second guessing myself wondering if he knew
how wonderful I thought he was! I don't think  he did!

Mission accomplished!

My brother called me last night and told me Mom's foot was hurting her again. She had not told me anything about it. He spoke with our cousin, the urologist who worked on her foot last time, and the doc wants to see her in his office on Monday. My brother will be in Branson, so I will be taking her to see him Monday.

I worked on Dad's berry plants today. He has a whole row of different types of berries and they really needed to be tied up. I did that and mowed all around them. Dad would be proud. He wanted that done before he died, but we just didn't get to it. His little stool that he sat on while working on his berries was still up there because that is where he did his last bit of work in the garden. I tried to move it right after he died, but I couldn't. Today I moved it because I needed to mow there. I know he is smiling down on me right now. He loved his berries.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, we did it! We had Thanksgiving at my home just like we did last year, but without our daddy. We missed him a lot. I talked to Mom last night about missing him and she said she missed him, but she was glad he was not there at home yesterday. Mom had a big water bill and she doesn't use much water, so we knew she had a leak somewhere. Dad was such a worrier that he would have obsessed over the bill and the leak. My brother called someone to come see about it and he found a leak under the house and fixed it for $60. It had gotten so soggy under there that some of the doors in the house were sticking from the house sinking. It's not on a slab and was built when I was 4 years old, so it's old. It will dry out and we will fix the doors for her.

We also talked about what to do with Dad's clothes. I guess that will be our next task, but we must do it. Every little thing will be HARD!

O NO!

I lost my program that held all my addresses that I use to print out labels and my backup program can't seem to find it either. Good thing I printed all my addresses out before switching computers!! I even keep the database for my now defunct high school for our reunions.Crap! That's a lot of data that I have to retype. Fortunately, I was able to re-load the program that I am used to on to my new computer. That's a shocker since I now have Windows 7 and the program was old.

Today was my 67th birthday, my first ever without my daddy. I thought about him all day....well, between all the coughs. All I have done was visit  my mom and lie down all day. There was a lot of stuff that I needed to do because I am hosting my family on Thanksgiving....well, all 4 of us! Tomorrow I am going to lunch with my mom and sister-in-law and some of their church friends, so maybe I can get something done after that. At least, I will be forced to get dressed.

New learning curve!

My new Dell desktop has been all set up and now I have a lot to learn...not the least of which is dealing with a smaller keyboard! WTH! I bought the Cadillac desktop...$1100 worth and it came with a crappy little keyboard. Everything else about it ROCKS though...24 " flat HD monitor and Bose speakers. My computer guru already has me listening to pandora.com, an awesome internet radio sight.

Yet another birthday dinner

My cousin took me to Ernest's Orleans restaurant tonight for my birthday. It was my first time at this restaurant and I must admit it was awesome. Just one complaint....they need parking lot redo!!!

• White zinfandel
• Marinated crab claws
  
• Snapper Ernest ( filet of red snapper, broiled with lump crab meat, lemon butter and white wine)
• Good company
  

Promise kept

When  my 61 year old brother was born, Mom and Dad hired someone to clean house once a week. This same lady did that until about 3 years ago when her health began to fail at age 87. She is now in a nursing home in Shreveport. None of us had seen her since her children moved her to this facility. Her son came to Dad's funeral and we promised him that we were going to see his mother. Today we fulfilled that promise. She was expecting us and was very happy to see us. We were so glad we went. Her mind is still good, but her body has failed her. We took her a box of candy and visited with her a short while. It was a good day!

Also, today I had the duty of picking up the death certificates from the funeral home. Who knew we would need 10 death certificates!!!! Turns out every single account or name change requires a death certificate. I guess we can meet with the lawyer now and get Dad's name off everything and get Mom's name on everything. Her name is already on most everything, but there are still a lot of things that must be done.

My idea of decorating!

 

My house would be the one on the right!

Read it and weep!

Now it's Mom!

Took Mom back to the doctor at 8:30 this morning because her infected foot was not better and still hurting bad enough for her to take pain meds....that's bad because she does NOT take pain meds ever. He wanted to put her in the hospital for IV meds, but she really didn't want that. She got another shot. As my brother was having lunch with our cousin, a urologist, he was telling our cousin about Mom's foot. Urologist cousin wanted to see her foot, so I went and got her and brought her back to my town to see him. He operated on it and told her it would get well now that he had relieved the pressure by removing a callous. She feels better already, but, of course, her foot is still dead from the surgery. I got her back home and on her bed with her foot elevated. I believe she will get well now!! It's wonderful having doctors in the family...even if he is a urologist. I told him he could add foot surgeon to his resume' now!!

Big reminder today!

I spent a good part of this day mulching the leaves at Mom's. Each year (if it wasn't too cold), Dad would sit outside in a chair and watch me do this. Every once in a while he would get up and go rake a few leaves from a fence line or from under a tree so I could run over them with the mower. Today his chair was there, but he wasn't. I guess some day I will stop blogging about this, but right now I just can't.

Still a wreck!

I couldn't stop crying yesterday. Everything made me think of my dad, especially lunch at my brother's house. It was so sad to have Dad's seat empty and it made me miss him so much. Not a day goes by that I don't shed a few tears. I guess emotions will be on the surface for a while. Today was better. I was at Mom's early and found out that her home health nurse had told her this morning that she needed the doctor to look at her foot. Looks like an infection has set in and she is a diabetic who has lots of trouble with her feet. She will see the doc tomorrow morning. I picked up some more pecans and then took 70 pounds to be cracked. Looks like lots of them were no good inside, but Mom will pick out the good ones.

"nuf said! What a bunch of MORONS!

My diversion!

Today, I went out with friends and it was a wonderfully, delicious diversion. Four of us visited the grand opening of a new apartment and retail center called The Villagio. It's all upscale and very nice. We then went to the Boardwalk in Bossier City and sat on the patio of Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro and drank margaritas and ate 4 different appetizers. It was great relaxation for me and a great way to focus on something new for a change. Didn't even get to Mom's today, but she was glad I was able to focus on something else and be with my friends. She is a saint and I love her so much. She told one of my friends that she had the two best children in the world. AWWWWW!

One hurdle passed!

Last night my family went to Dad's favorite catfish restaurant. That's where "his girlfriend" is a waitress. It was hard! She was happy to see us, but sad that we chose a table for 4. Dad always paid for our meal and was delighted to do so. Last night Mom was going to continue that tradition because she said Dad would want her to. Last night the owners of the restaurant comped our meal in honor of our dad. They miss him, too!

Life goes on....

I commandeered my neighbor's yard crew and got them to do my yard just this once. Being totally committed to my dad for the last month got me way behind on things at my own home. The yard is something I do myself because I am kind of anal about it being perfect, but today I just needed help. My house is almost clean as well.

I got yet another beautiful bromeliad today with two blooms from a friend who just found out about my dad. It is beautiful and means so much to me. My garage is full of flowers that I have to find a place for, but never fear, I will. The debt on the new building at my dad's church is being reduced daily with memorial donations. They built the building for 1 million dollars and had a 300,000 down payment. Their debt is down to $50,000 in about 3 years. AMAZING!

Going, going, gone....

 I was very impressed that every last one of my first cousins from both sides of my family came to my dad's funeral. Even one from Virginia and one from Florida. Also, a dear friend came from South Carolina and another couple of dear friends from my old home town of Orange, Texas. My friends ROCK! They have helped me get through this and that includes my online friends that I haven't even met face to face and my Facebook friends, who have shown me so much affection with their notes of condolence to me. Four of my Thursday lunch friends were there as well and I didn't even know it until they sent me emails after the service. Those who were unable to come have sent flowers and memorials to my dad's church. I am very blessed with awesome friends.

I have already taken my ambien, so it could kick it before I finish this post. At least, I hope it kicks in sometime. Ambien is not as successful at making me sleep as I had hoped. Last night I tried xanax and that didn't work so well either. Tonight I am already stressing because it was last Wednesday night at 11:45 that I got the call that daddy was gone...only 3 hours after I had left him just knowing I had seen him alive for the last time. I miss him so much.

Perfect goodbye to Daddy...

We laid my dad to rest yesterday in a beautiful little cemetery down in the country with my mom's family. Since he helped start the volunteer fire department in his little town and my brother is currently the fire chief, a fire truck led the processional to the cemetery. As we passed the local post office, we saw that the American flag was flying at half mast in honor of my dad. That was a very moving sight. The service was absolutely perfect. I would not have changed one thing or one word that my high school friend and neighbor said about my dad or one thing his minister said. Both of them spoke so eloquently and I had made a CD over a year ago of Larry Gatlin singing,"In the Garden" which was played during the service. That song always makes me think of Dad.Dad had told me a few weeks ago what song he wanted sung at his funeral and who he wanted to sing it. It was exactly as he had requested. I have brought my dad's ambien home with me and tonight I am hoping for some deep sleep.

See you on the other side, Daddy.

Dad's Obituary

Daddy's gone

Daddy's gone. He went to his heavenly home last night at 12:30. I miss him dearly already, but I know he is in a place better than all of us. As I left his side last night and started to drive to my home, I started crying and I said out loud to no one....I have seen my daddy for the last time.

The right thing!

Mom, Brother and I made a decision to have an ambulance transport Dad back home to his own bed and call in hospice. We did that today and I feel confident we did the right thing. Hospice has already been there and supplied us with morphine and ativan drops to just put in his mouth to help him rest. He has had no food today and hasn't asked for any. The swallowing problem is still an issue, so we just put ice in his mouth when he wants water. The sitter is with him at home and Mom is sleeping, I hope. After a restless night last night, I am about to go to bed and hope for some sleep tonight. My heart hurts.

One step backwards...

Dad was unable to swallow today and we are pretty sure he aspirated. He choked a lot, so he is getting zero nutrition. Nothing works to help him rest...even the knock out shot last night failed. Tonight he had morphine. I would not let Mom and brother leave me tonight until the sitter got there. Usually they go on home and I wait for the sitter to come at 8:30, but tonight I was afraid. They waited with me. My brother broke down and cried today in the room. I'm tired!!!!!

Update

Dad still in hospital. I'm tired. Upside is I lost 8 pounds. Gotta find the positive somewhere!

What next?

We had an ambulance bring Dad to the hospital yesterday. I thought he had a small stroke because when we tried to get him walking back to his room after sitting up a long time, his right leg was just sort of flopping. After we got him back to bed, he wanted to pee every 5 minutes, but couldn't even get up enough to get to the potty chair. After his wetting the bed twice and constantly calling for Mom, who had already been up with him all night, I just called an ambulance. Mom can't deal with this any more. Don't know what the next step is...probably hospice and sitters. The sitter we had lined up for last night came and sat with him at the hospital and we all got to go to our respective homes and rest. She is coming again tonight to the hospital. What a blessing she is, but we have some big decisions to make. Every day I pray that this will be the day God takes him home. I guess I'm selfish and don't want to make the hard decisions. Going to try to rest a few minutes while my brother is at the hospital. I was there at 6:30 this morning and someone brought Mom at 10. She is still there.

Thank you, God!

I got to Mom's this morning while the lady who does Dad's  bath and shaves him was there, but the home health nurse had already been there. Home health gave Mom an ultimatum...either we get a sitter or she would get one for us. She was serious, too! I called the lady who had already said she would do it and she came and met with Mom and me. She starts tomorrow night at 10 - 6 and I am so grateful. We know that she is honest because we know several others she has sat with including my aunt until she died. We are setting her up in their living room,which they never use anyway, and it is right next to Dad's room. My brother and I set up a TV and a recliner in there today and the baby monitor works great, so she can use that and not have to be in the room with him. I think Mom is relieved to have her Tuesday-Friday. There is another lady that I think we can get when we need someone for the other 3 nights. I told Dad today that the home health nurse said we must get Mom some help. He didn't say anything, so I think he probably didn't hear me. While the sitter was there making plans with us, the home health nurse who was there earlier called to see if we were getting help. I told her "thank you" for telling Mom that we must do this and that we were hiring someone at that moment.I think I might even sleep well tonight.

WTH!

I am just mad now! My dad walked all the way back to my mom's room to tell her he didn't think our getting a sitter was the answer! He said he wouldn't have any privacy....hell, he doesn't have any privacy now, and she told him that.I asked her if he had an answer, but , of course, he has no clue what this is doing to her. He is only thinking of himself. What it tells me is that he hears a lot more than we think he does. We never talked to him about a sitter, but we have discussed it while he is  in the room thinking he could not hear. His making a comment like that is going to make Mom even more reluctant to let us get a sitter a night. She is just exhausted and is just  not able to do all the things she has to do for him. Yesterday he was all cross ways on his bed and made no effort to right himself and while she was trying to move him around, she fell. Had to call brother to come get her up. Today he fell again. We don't know what he is doing when he falls. Mom thinks he is trying to move the potty chair, which she has told him to leave alone. I don't know what to do. I bought a baby monitor today and have been trying it out here at my home. Works great, so I will set it up there tomorrow. I just pray that he doesn't kill my mom, too!

I'm here!

I should never be AWOL for 3 days because it makes my out of town friends think that my dad has died. Not true...I have just been lazy and there have been no changes. He doesn't get any better, but he doesn't get worse either. Today I took him out for his walk after he had a few bites of lunch and he did OK. My brother told me that Dad barely made it back last night when he went for his walk. Brother had to help him back in the house more than usual. On the plus side, he has not fallen since Tuesday night and that was before my brother went to bed. The baby monitor we borrowed so Mom could hear him at night has too much static in it so we can't use it. I guess I'll go buy one.

This afternoon I helped prepare finger foods for a wine and beer tasting fundraiser for our krewe tonight. All the fruit was bought at Sam's and we had the biggest seedless grapes I have ever seen. I must go tomorrow and get some. The venue is Orleans on Main in downtown Minden because the owner of the venue is also a krewe member. The tables were decorated by another member who also owns a business called The Butterfly Garden here in Minden. Each table has a different theme with things from her shop and each one is awesome. It will be a beautiful night. I just hope people show up. There was no RSVP so we didn't know how many to prepare for.

Denial mode today!

Today has been another one of my special be a slug days. Nothing got done but nap after nap after nap. I guess I am in full denial that I need to be at Mom and Dad's checking on them and taking care of them, but I haven't been and I haven't called. I'm sure my brother would have called me if he thought I needed to be there. It's been raining all day, so we couldn't take Dad out for his walks.

Finally, late this afternoon I fried some perch and took some to my aunt (Dad's sister), who is in an assisted living facility right down from my house.

Just funny!

The guy who does this is a graduate of the school in Texas where I taught and his mom is a friend of mine. He is mostly known as Shirley Q Liquor.

What REALLY happened to the dinosaurs!!!!!

OMG....what to do!

Not only is my dad dying, but he is killing my mom as well. I went down this morning to stay with him so she could go to the hairdresser. When I got there, she was lying down. She said Dad fell again last night and busted his head open. She doesn't even know why he was out of his room because he has a potty chair right beside his bed, but he fell in the hall headed back to his room and the walker was on top of him. Mom and my brother got him patched up, but my brother said it really needed stitches. Mom spent the rest of the night sitting up in a recliner in his room. She is soooooo not able to do that. When I got there, she canceled her appointment and went to lie down. I told her I would stay there and I wanted her to go sleep. She didn't stay down long, but I got some lunch for both of them, took him for his walk and made her go back to her bed to rest. Dad doesn't remember any of what happened last night. Tonight she took his walker out of his room. He can't go anywhere without it. She ALMOST consented to my getting a sitter at night when I asked her this morning...but not quite. I talked to my brother about it tonight and he wasn't sure how Dad would handle that. I told him that Dad didn't have a "say" in this decision. We have to save Mom! He has already complained about the lady we got to help with the housework. Mom told him to "get over it"...she needed help! Good for her!