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!