Great day!

Mom's caregiver had to leave at 12:30 today, but my brother didn't tell me so I went at my regular time around 3:30. Her wheelchair was in the yard and the golf cart was gone. My brother had taken her down to the pond where he was doing some dirt work on our dried up pond. When they came home, she saw me in the yard and said, "Hi, Sandy"! That was HUGE! She has not said my name without prompting since she had her stroke almost a year ago. She walked better today as well. AND...as if that wasn't enough to make my day, tonight she was sitting on the side of her bed while I was moving her wheelchair out of the way. She stood up and straightened out her gown.....by herself...no help. I just turned around and saw her do it! Surprised her as much as it surprised me!

The power chair will be here next week. That should be interesting. Today, she probably could have done it well....not sure on any other days! Some days she is really fuzzy! But, hey, some days I AM REAL FUZZY!

Mom's New Ride!

We finally got Mom's new ride. She has been all over the property to places she hasn't seen in years. We have even been in areas that I haven't seen since I was a child walking in the woods with my dad.

This used to be our pond. The drought has rendered it almost dry. My brother has been on the tractor cleaning it all out and making improvements to it. Mom was shocked to see this!

Big week!

Had my yearly eye appointment and found that my cataracts have not gotten any worse in the last year, so no need to remove them yet. Had mammogram...no results yet. Got carpet cleaned using one of those Groupon deals. If you haven't checked out Groupon yet, it has some good deals in your local areas. We are in the process of finding a golf cart so we can take Mom around her property. We have been on this mission for 2 weeks. A family friend owns a golf cart dealership and he is not happy with the batteries in the one we are getting, so he is trying to fit it with used batteries that get a decent read on his machine. We certainly don't want to have to buy batteries for $650 or a charger for $400. Maybe this week, he will get it fixed like he wants it for us.

Enough said!

Happy Labor Day!

I hope that you are lucky enough to have a job to be off from today!

Your President is wishing the labor unions a happy day today. Yeah! They are a major part of the reason our nation is in the bad shape it is in now! People better wake up and get a clue before the next election or watch this wonderful country further decline .

Woo Hoo!

My brother got someone to come in at 5 today for Mom. He told me not to come at all today, so I didn't. I went to a cookout and socialized with my friends and had a great time. We got some residual sprinkles from Tropical Storm Lee, so it was nice and cool and windy outside. Looking forward to much cooler weather this next week...a welcome break from many record breaking days of over 100 degrees. Some days I just have to take a break!

Thank God!

Doctor could find no problems with my brother's liver or gall bladder. Doc suggested he see a cardiologist, but he probably won't since it has only been a few months since he had a stress test. I tried to find someone to fill in for me on Sunday at Mom's so I could go to a cook out, but I struck out on that. We only have one person who has done that shift since one of our caregivers had to move to Texas. She is one of the CNA's that took care of Mom in rehab and she works the evening shift there. She is working on Sunday, so she can't work. We need someone else who could fill in. I hate to be limited to only her days off to get a break for myself. Oh, well....I'll deal with it. No big deal!

Sorry!

I have been forgetting to post here since I spend most of my computer time on Facebook. Things are going smoothly for Mom. My brother has been sick and is having a CT scan tomorrow because an ultra sound last week showed a spot on his liver. Fortunately, I had my 6 month check up with my doc and everything came out normal....no highs or lows on any of the lab results, so I'm good!

What a week!

After moving to rehab, Mom went into complete meltdown and did nothing, but cry. Finally, after taking all I could take with her crying, I went to the nurse and asked her to start taking the necessary steps to get mom discharged the next morning. She did and we took her home yesterday. Now she is happy. Caregivers are back and we have a break again. The caregiver said she was not as weak as we thought. She was just "playing us" and it worked. She cried so much that we thought she had had another slight stroke that affected the emotion part of the brain. She didn't cry once yesterday, so perhaps not.

I enjoyed my one night away in a beautiful resort in Lake Charles and getting to see my adopted family! Had not seen the kids in over two years. The kids enjoyed the lazy river and we enjoyed the beautiful setting. After going out to dinner, I came back to the hotel, stepped in the casino and put in $20 and took out $58...went to my room!

Time for an update!

It's been crazy! Mom has been in the hospital twice since I have updated. First, she had a UTI and was on IV antibiotics for 3 days in the hospital. She lost everything she had gained relating to physicality. Could not even stand up, so we were back to square one. We had finally got her up and walking a little bit when she had another set back...this time it was throwing up and diarrhea which sent her back to the hospital where she is now. She went there last Wednesday with a heart rate in the 30's and vomiting. Finally, an ultra sound of her gall bladder showed some small stones. She has never had that before, but doc is pretty sure that was the culprit with a small stone getting stuck in a duct and making her sick. No damage was done, so we are not doing anything about that. Heart rate has come back up after taking her off Atenelol. Yesterday, she was accepted and moved into the in-house hospital wing for rehab. Hopefully, she can regain some strength and we can continue working with her at home with my brother and me and home health physical therapists.

Tomorrow, I am taking a day off and driving down to Lake Charles to meet up with a friend from South Carolina. Looking forward to a night at L'Auberge du lac Resort.

It's a "God thing"!

Update: My brother just called and we have a lady for tomorrow and Tuesday when our regular caregiver has a doctor appointment! See...I knew it would work out!

Why does blogger keep jacking with things! Leave it the hell alone! I keep trying to change the update above to red and it will not let me! WTH!

We struck out on getting a caregiver for the weekend. I had already told Mom she would just have to deal with an amateur this weekend...ME! Well, tonight our daily caregiver called to see if we had found someone. She said she would come in tomorrow. WooHoo! I will have it on Sunday, but I am happy to NOT have it during the day tomorrow. We are still in need to someone to come in the occasional evening to give me a night off. It will work out! I know it will.

Another HIccup!

Our weekend caregiver and sub for the weekly daytime caregiver had to quit to move to Texas and care for her grandchild while her daughter is in Kuwait. She really liked working for us and hated to leave. We have several leads for replacements...mostly some CNA's that took care of Mom while she was in rehab. They are really good, so I hope it works out schedule-wise for them. This would be a job in addition to their regular jobs. 

Mom now has some gout. Her feet have been hurting, so yesterday the home health nurse took blood and I just got a call that her uric acid was high. I take meds on a daily basis for gout, so I know how very painful it is.

On a personal note, I have been using my Wii fit for about a month and really feel better. It's amazing what regular exercise can do to improve overall attitude and health. It's too hot to walk outside. It's too hot to even go outside! The yoga section always makes me feel better even if it is all I do.

MIssing in Action!

Didn't realize it's been so long since an update. Mom is back in the hospital with UTI on IV antibiotics. Been there since Sunday. She has taken a few steps backwards physically. Can't walk but a few steps with help.

On top of that her car broke down on the way to the hospital, the sewer has been stopped up again and just about everything has gone to hell in a handbasket, whatever that means! The car is being towed tomorrow. The sewer had to be dug up again by my brother and the plumber called again. Once again the caregivers had been putting those damn moistened wipes that I buy for their convenience in the toilet. We told them not to do that and also put a sign on them and they did it anyway. Well, they won't anymore because I removed them from the house. I should tell them that every time we have to call a plumber, we use more of Mom's money. When her money is gone, so are their JOBS!

New Ceiling Fan

New Ceiling Fan

Just testing out how to do some stuff in Blogger. Not exactly planning to install a ceiling fan like this!!!

Uh Oh!

Today was the last day that PT came to see Mom. My brother and I took her out tonight to walk on her driveway. She did really well and walked almost to the end of it. After that, he rolled her around the property so she could see his ornamental gourds. I have no idea what he is going to do with them, but they are very interesting to watch grow. He has also planted some pumpkins and some cushaw, but they are slow about coming up! Tomorrow I will check with the people that we got the wheelchair from a long time ago and see if it is now ours. It should be ours after 13 months, but all the time she was in the hospital and rehab did not count against that time. I want to get started again on trying to get a power chair for her. It was hard to push her around  in that wheelchair in the grass on the property today. Her cousin, who is a doctor, has said he will do the paperwork again to get that chair. The paperwork he did before has since expired and must be redone. We are also checking on perhaps getting Medicare to pay for the adult diapers and rubber gloves that we have to buy a lot of. They are very expensive.

Amen!

Wow! Much needed break!

Friends and I went to an upscale steakhouse last night for dinner. We all needed the break.....one has had to put her husband in a nursing home (he's much older than her) and the other just lost her husband. I really splurged and had the lobster.....yum....haven't had lobster in many years. It should have been a short trip of about 30 minutes to get back home, but due to an 18 wheeler overturned near our exit, it took us 2 hours to go a few miles.

Yesterday, I got some solar screens installed on my huge bedroom windows. This morning I really slept in because those screens had it really dark in my room, but I can now open the blinds in the daytime and not have so much heat come in as well. Soooooo...overall, it's been a good 24 hours. Back to the grind today of doing my part to care for Mom.

Smooth sailing....

That crazy bluebird is making me crazy. He still will not stay off my windows and my patio door. I'm told he sees his reflection and is very territorial. All he does is make a mess. This is MY territory. Today I covered the panes on the patio door with with that kitchen wrap stuff that sticks to itself. I hope to retrain the stupid bird because I can't see out with that stuff on the door. He needs to go somewhere else!

So far, things are going smoothly at Mom's. Her regular day caregiver has to be out tomorrow for a doctor appointment, but she called the weekend person to come in for her. We didn't have to do anything. She is even giving her instructions about taking Mom to the hairdresser. We were very lucky to get the people we hired to take care of her. Every one is good and dependable. Mom is happy and that is all that matters. And.....we finally got an inch and a half of rain. It's not much, but it sure helped! My city has placed water restrictions effective immediately.

'nuf said!

It's hot!

And it's way too early to be 100 freakin' degrees! My grass is dying even though it gets watered every day.  The aquifer from which our water comes is getting low due to severe drought ,,,,,so soon we will be on water restrictions. Maybe I should just go ahead and let it die, but my neighbors would not like that! We all take pride in our homes and especially our yards. I even got my yard aerated last week so the water could get to the roots of the grass and not just roll off the hard ground and thatch. Thank goodness for an air conditioner that works great! I have a call in to a company  to get an estimate on some solar screens. My neighbor got some last week and they look great and made a huge difference in the coolness in her house.

WooHoo!

I had a caregiver come in at 5 today and give me the night off...first one since October 29th. The evening was spent going to a grocery store in Bossier City and Chik-fil-A! Big night on the town, but I was glad just to go do something by myself. My friends have trouble getting together......one had to put her husband in the nursing home (he's much older than her), another has her husband in the hospital, another has her mother living with her, another is out of town caring for her mother-in-law, another is on stand-by waiting to be called to New Hampshire where her sister is in bad shape...another has her nephews here from Maui......and it just goes on and on....so it isn't just me that is tied down!!!!! I even felt guilty that a stranger was putting my mom to bed tonight. That's my job and I have done it every night even when she was in the hospital and the rehab. I have to make sure she is comfortable and tell her good night and that I love her. I told her that before I left her this evening, but it wasn't the same as telling her after I put her to bed.

We had our first major problem caused by caregivers. Someone has been putting the baby wipes in the toilet. The whole septic system got stopped up and my poor brother had to dig it all up and run the snake through it and after a couple of days of trying, he finally got it unclogged and that's what he found. Of course, no one admits to flushing those things. Only an idiot would not know those things are NOT flushable! They are not the little Charmin wipes that are flushable, but the big baby wipes! We also had to get new field lines put in today. That was not the result of the wipes being flushed, but something that just needed to be done due to roots of the huge magnolia tree which my brother also cut down earlier this week. That man has worked so hard this week and all of it at my mom's. Today after the guys finished with the field lines, my brother had to go paint at his church. He is glad this week is over. He admitted he is weary and he never says that.....he just keeps going and going like the Energizer bunny! I feel sorry for him.

Gotta make changes!

It has become clear to me this week that I need to find someone who can come in occasionally during the 3-11 shift that my brother and I currently cover. I had to miss a Memorial Day cookout and tonight I am missing out on going out to dinner with friends because I have to be there to prepare something for Mom to eat, take her to the bathroom and put her to bed every night. My brother cannot take her to the bathroom. People have told me that I could become resentful and I don't want that to happen. I'm on a mission now to make that happen so that I can have a little bit of a life!

Thanks!

Still not quite normal!

Although my life has resumed somewhat of a normalcy, it's not what I was accustomed to. I guess this is my new normal. At least, I am sleeping in my own bed, but there is something about changing diapers on my own mom that is just not right! I didn't think I could do that, but I have had to. I have actually come home a couple of nights before the night caregiver arrived because Mom is asleep and sleeps very soundly. Today, I actually went to Bossier City which is the next city over and much bigger. I was able to get the car washed, get a hair cut and eat some Chinese food. After returning home I have been able to get the yard treated by the yard people and get it watered in since I don't have a sprinkler system. Also, arranged to get the yard aerated next weekend. Finally, a productive day for me. Now, I'm off for my shift with Mom.

Happy camper!

I am a happy camper! Last week was an incredibly long week and I am totally exhausted. We have help hired for the 7-3 shift and the 11-7 shift. My brother and I will handle the afternoons, but tonight I get to sleep in my own bed in my own home and not get up until I feel like it. Thank you, Jesus! These CNA's and LPN's know way more than I do and certainly know how to take care of Mom. I am thrilled that she is going to have that quality of help. I'm off for a nap now!

Aye, Carumba!

This has been a most difficult week...way harder than I ever expected it would be. So much so that my brother and I are looking for Certified Nurse Assistants to hire. I am exhausted and have lost all my zeal for anything. I am not trained to care for anyone, but especially my mom who has incontinence of the bowel and the bladder. I did not know this before we got her home. There are two upsides to the whole thing...she is happy and I have lost 8 pounds since Monday. Along with the rest of my zeal, my appetite left, too! That part is cool. I am kind of hoping for the end of the world rumors to be true tomorrow.

Good bye sweet home of mine!

Tonight will be my last night in my home for who knows how long. I guess we will hire some sitters from time to time, but not for a while. Didn't sleep much last night just thinking about not getting to sleep in my home. Instead, I get to go back to my childhood home that was built when I was 4 years old! My brother and I have worked hard to get it prepared for Mom's homecoming tomorrow. I told her we had everything but the brass band. She just laughed. We have the hospital bed  and have moved furniture to make sure the wheelchair will fit everywhere. We have planted flowers and hung the hummingbird feeder. The cabinets and the fridge have been re-stocked and lots of stuff thrown out. I am mentally prepared for the transition, I think. I have my high speed internet and my laptop set up at her house and wifi so that all my iphone apps will work. I know she is ready to go home. I am going to get her soon to take her to church.

CRAPPY day!

When I got to the rehab center this evening, the aides couldn't wait to tell me that Mom balked again at going to therapy. One of them even told me that she said, "Hell, no"! My mother has never in her life said that, so I am really questioning what they say they heard her say. I fussed at her about not wanting to go to therapy and she fussed right back at me. I don't know what she was saying, but when I asked her if she was fussing at me, she emphatically said, "Yes"! I don't know what's wrong. She cried and I cried. I apologized for fussing at her. I don't know what is wrong, but we are going home soon and I am not going to fuss at her anymore even though we are paying $140 a day for her to get more therapy. She has no concept of that. When I left tonight, she told me to, "Be happy". I clearly understood that. I think I am just frustrated at trying to handle so much and I am just tired!!!

Glitch #1!

We ran into a road block with Medicare today. Mom has a wheelchair at home and after 13 months, it becomes ours. However, that does not include the time that she has been in the care of others (hospital and rehab center). We have one more month left on the wheelchair. Because of this, Medicare will not pay for the power chair. We cannot start counting that last month until she gets home. Meanwhile, the paperwork on the power chair expires. It's only good for 40 days. What a freakin' mess! We simply must have the wheelchair at home, so the power chair is on hold until we get this all cleared up. The rep at the power chair store is not happy because of "all the work" she has done on this case. Whatever! We have friends here in our area that own a medical supply store and we would rather get it from them anyway, but since it was Mom's cousin who was taking care of all this, we just stood back. The therapist has reservations about whether or not Mom can operate a power chair. She may be right and, actually, she probably doesn't need it inside her home. We can just get a golf cart so she can get around the acreage and not be stuck inside if the power chair doesn't work out. We are making plans to get her home in about two weeks. The saga continues!

Mom had a meltdown yesterday and today when a therapist came to get her to walk. She refused and rambled on and on and, of course, we couldn't figure out why she wouldn't go. She cried and I cried. Today, same thing happened and Stewart was there as well, so he saw what I was talking about that happened last night. She cried again. She got alright, but she did not go to therapy. Tomorrow I will take her to her church again and I hope on Monday, she gets back to working hard. If she doesn't, then we have no reason to be there. This photo was today when my brother and I took her outside to sit for awhile.

Mom update

I spoke with the therapists yesterday and they said that after what seemed to be a plateau, Mom is once again making progress. She finally got a light brace to hold her right foot up so it cannot drag and she is walking further each day. We got a ramp built into the front door of her house and her cousin, the orthopedic surgeon, has made arrangements for a power chair. Apparently, there is lots of paperwork required by the doctor and he has taken care of all that. I have gotten internet set up at her house and moved my laptop, which I rarely used anyway, to her house. Will be getting wireless set up today, so I can use all the apps on my iphone.

It's what's for dinner!

Sauteed vegetables and shrimp over a bed of rice!

Happy Easter to my peeps!

Wow!

Update: Report this morning is that all parties will survive!

At least a half mile from my home tonight, I was stopped from going any further. I could see up the road police vehicles, fire trucks, and helicopters. Turns out there was a major wreck at the intersection by my house. One of the vehicles was a police cruiser. After a significant amount of time, I was able to walk up and talk to my neighbors. They said they would be very surprised if one of the occupants made it. He was airlifted to Shreveport, but they said he was in bad shape.

More blessings!

God just keeps on blessing us! My mom's cousin, who is an orthopedic surgeon, called me again today and told me he has all the paperwork done to get her an electric cart. He also told me he was sending me some more money to pay for extra time in rehab. I tried to discourage his doing that, but he told me my mom is very special to him and she was so good to his mom (her aunt). He just wants to help her get the extra help that home health will not be able to provide. Wow! What a wonderful gift to her and to us!

Another busy day!

I spent 3 hours at Mom's house cleaning today. It was a mess since things had been pretty much left as is for 25 weeks. I had to prepare a place to put my computer and get a cable dropped since they are doing that on Tuesday. While I was there I cleaned the kitchen and got rid of all the old medicines still there. My sister-in-law took stuff out of the fridge months ago to avoid that disaster. I still have to go through the cabinets and get rid of stuff there. From her house, I stopped by to see her while my brother was there at noon and stayed until they laid her down for a nap at 2. Went to get me some crawfish for lunch and then went home for a little while before going back to be with her at 4:30. Tonight she got choked on nothing but air and had trouble getting her breath back and then her chest was hurting. The aide said she couldn't stand up to get changed and in bed. In the past when she had a major heart attack, chest pain was never an issue. She has different symptoms....almost none at all! She was ok when I left. We have plans to go to her church tomorrow, so I hope she will be ok. Today was 25 weeks since the stroke....175 days in a row that I have been with Mom, except for the one day back in November that I was sick while she was in rehab at the hospital.

Down day!

The pressure of taking care of Mom after we get her home is starting to weigh me down. We will have to have some help. People are already clamoring for the jobs, but we can't afford a lot of help. If we do that, it would cost as much as the nursing home. I guess we will just play it by ear and see how much she can help herself...which, I am afraid, is very little. Tomorrow, someone is coming to fit her for the ortho piece for her right foot. Maybe that will help. Her mind is not right. She does lots of strange things like wipe her face with her bread and trying to eat her tea with a fork....just crazy stuff! I'm just tired!

Busy day!

It  was unintentionally busy! I heard noises in my backyard before 8 A.M. which woke me and then the doorbell rang. Turns out that the dude that I had negotiated with to grind the two stumps where my brother had cut down my trees was there to do his job! Holy crap! It's early for me! He was done in 15 minutes, got his money and left to do the big stuff he had to do today. Since I was awake, I went on to Mom's house and did some work there which included mowing acres of grass. I had just enough time to shower and then go to the rehab center to be with her. We sat outside for a while, which she enjoys. Tomorrow the men are coming to build the ramp at her house.

It's another step!

I went to the funeral of a friend today and after the celebration of life, I went by to visit my mom and took her the order of service. On the cover of the brochure was this picture of the deceased. Mom looked at it and said very clearly, "She is so pretty". Sometimes she says things that are so clear!

Another step!

I try to bring Mom a little snack, usually fresh fruit, when my shift starts at around 4 P.M. (My brother goes every day at lunch time to help her with her lunch). On Saturday, I took her fresh strawberries and we went outside to sit on the porch. I watched her struggle with holding the container with her left hand, but she didn't want me to hold it for her. Since she was holding it with her left hand, she managed to pick up a few strawberries with her right hand and get them to her mouth. She had to bend her head way over to reach her hand, but she did it. When I asked her if she knew what she had just done, she was surprised that she had done it with her right hand.

Yesterday, I took her to Sunday services at her church for the first time since her stroke in October. We had been one other time to a Sunday night event, but never to the Sunday morning service. She was so excited that she had rolled her chair to the door of her room and was looking in the hall waiting for me.

Great day!

Mom had a great day yesterday...probably her best yet! When I got there after her nap, I asked her how her therapy went and she just smiled and started trying to tell me how happy she was that it had gone so well. I thought I understood her to say she walked 100 feet, but I was skeptical and went to talk to the therapists. They concurred that she did indeed walk all the way back to her room after therapy. She had some new fresh flowers that someone had brought her. I managed to understand her to say that Diane had brought them. My brother said that Diane did indeed bring those flowers. I was thrilled. I asked her if she thought we were doing the right thing by paying out of pocket to keep her there for additional therapy and she said, "Oh, yes!"

I'm tired!

My brother and I worked hard on our dad's row of berries today. We had to cut out all the dead wood and clean out all the grass and weeds from below them. Wow! What a job! He had to leave and do his real job, but I worked for about 3 hours until I was exhausted. This was our dad's last project before he died and he was very proud of his row of berries. Last summer they were very prolific, but then Mom had her stroke and we just didn't do the stuff that needed to be done. We are trying to catch up. My brother went on and took his regular noon shift with Mom, but I tried to get the row finished. Didn't quite finish before I gave completely out.

Holy CRAP!

I was chiding myself for leaving this mess in the green pitcher at my yard work station. As I reached to clean it out, a bird flew out. Scared me bad! There are eggs in the nest, so now I have to leave it. Click on the picture to enlarge it and see the bird! CRAP...please disregard the typo on resourceful!!! This English teacher hates that!!!

Another outing!

Yesterday I took Mom out again to the catfish place. My brother met us there with her wheelchair from home. She enjoyed getting out and we were happy to do it for her and us!

Today when I got back after her nap, she was dozing in the chair. She kept on doing this, so I asked the nurse what her blood sugar was at 4:00. It was 112. They should have given her a snack right then, but they didn't. I took fresh strawberries to her, but they don't raise blood sugar. I had them check it again and it was 77...that's why she couldn't stay awake. They plied her with orange juice and she got ok.

Another good day!

The last couple of days, I have seen progress. We have a sheet of sentences to complete from the speech therapist and tonight Mom did better than she ever has with those. Today when I got there at noon, I watched in the therapy room through the door while the OT worked with her using her right hand. She was doing really well. I can't let her see me because she gets unfocused really easily. The PT said she is walking better and farther. They have ordered an orthopedic gizmo for her right foot that will hold her foot up and not allow it to drag her toes. Today I am feeling better about everything. Of course, it helps that I have spent the last two days at her house working in the yard and mowing. My brother got back this evening and he called a little while ago and said our potatoes are coming up. I have been so busy at her house that I didn't look at the garden...well, except for my tomatoes! I water them every day. Glad to have him back. He will start the tiller for me tomorrow so I can start tilling the garden. He already has it disked up, but now it must be tilled before the planting can begin. And yes, God, some rain would be good..ok!

Good day.

Although Mom doesn't seem to be walking any better or even as well as she did a month ago, I have to assume she is making progress. I just can't see it. I didn't think she was having any therapy today, so I went at about 10 this morning to keep her from getting bored. She was in therapy...yay! When she finished I loaded her in my car and took her for a drive. We went to my house so she could see my daffodils in my yard. Then we went to her house so I could check on my tomatoes that I planted yesterday and water them. We even drove down through the pasture to the pond. I then went in her house and got some different clothes for her. I know she is tired of wearing the same old things over and over. Then we went to Sonic for a corn dog which she can eat easily with her left hand. When we got back, she lay down for a rest and I came home for a while. I'll be going back soon to spend the evening with her. As soon as my brother gets back, we have to get a ramp built for her house and get busy trying to get our garden started.

Who cares?

Haven't done any updates lately because I just don't seem to see progress. Some days are better than others and today was a bit frustrating. My brother is gone again so I have all the Mom duties which means I must be with her at noon and at dinner to help her with her meals. Leaves no time for me when I need to be getting my yard in shape and starting our garden. Today, my vacuum cleaner of about one year broke the wheels off the bottom, so I had to find a place to get it repaired..take it to Shreveport and get back between her lunch and about 4:30 when I go back to be with her. I guess I am just feeling the pressure a little more than usual. Today is the day I usually eat with my buds and solve all the world's problems, but, of course, that didn't happen today. I needed that outlet today! Ok..I'll stop whining. I'm just tired!

Exactly!

Yet another reason these bulbs suck!

It's a big Louisiana deal!

Finally!

After a complete melt down for the last two days, Mom had an excellent day today. The last two days she just cried, didn't want to go get her hair done and couldn't do much in therapy. We have no idea what was wrong because she couldn't tell us. I spent all day with her yesterday. We sat outside and waited for an old high school friend of mine to come see her. Of course, I stay with her every night until she goes to bed. Today was a complete turn around. No crying and she was doing well. The aide told me tonight that Mom did the best she had ever done getting in the bed. The aide didn't have to help her much, but hold her hands on her back to make sure she didn't fall. She was even able to turn herself and get in the bed without much help and without hurting her arm or leg. When I told her tonight that the aide had really bragged on how well she did, Mom just beamed. She wants to get better so badly.

More progress!

We took Mom out to eat tonight at our favorite catfish place. When we got to the place, I forgot to unhook her seat belt while my brother was getting the wheelchair from his car. She very clearly told me, "I can't get out". When the wait staff asked her if she wanted fish or shrimp, she very clearly said, "I think I want the shrimp"! We talked with someone there whose mother had a really bad stroke and after a year had started talking and doing all the same things again. Those kinds of stories give us hope.


 Last night someone asked if she had supplemental insurance. Well, of course, she does and we completely forgot  about it. We will be checking on Monday to see if it will help pay since she is in a Skilled Nursing Facility. Something new to learn every day. Our visit with the lawyer on Friday was helpful as well.

Good News!

The administrator told us we could leave her in the same room until such time as they needed it and after that he would find a private room on another hall for her. It will cost us $4200 a month, so we told her she had to be ready to run a race within a month or so. The beautiful daffodils are courtesy of her niece!

 Our next thing to tackle is all her assets. If she had another stroke tomorrow and required a nursing home, it would take all her money and then they said any land would have to be sold and used as payment until it ran out. I already have an appointment with our attorney on Friday. We have been told that it had to be out of her name for 5 years, but we are trying to figure a way to get around that. Right now, it's all in her name except property that Dad inherited. We told her today that we were going to try to get her name off everything except the house and the car. She is allowed to own a house and a car and that is it before Medicaid would kick in. She just said, "OK". She would hate more than anything to use up all the funds and lose the land. That would kill her.