Why?

My brother is in Branson this week. Mom did great the first day he was gone and walked with the caregiver. My brother walks her every day and he told her that she must walk with the caregiver. Everything was fine.  Yesterday, some mean old woman inhabited the body of my sweet mom. She refused to walk, refused an enema, shoved her lunch plate away...just all kinds of crazy, unusual for her, stuff. All I could do was apologize to the caregiver because I have no idea why she does this. She doesn't very often, but when she does, she is mean and rude. That is sooooo not my mother. Of course, I got angry with her and fussed, which she will not remember today. This will be my brother's last vacation until next December....thank goodness! I hate it when he is gone. Time for me to get out in my yard and relieve some stress!

Great Day!

After two days of enemas, Mom had a good day. The caregiver took her to the hairdresser, so she was looking all pretty. My brother called me and said he was going to bring Mom up to the hospital in my city to visit her sister. It was great! The sisters were so happy to see each other! They just held hands the whole time. One of our cousins was there, so we got to visit with her as well.

Ooops!

Didn't realize I had been missing in action for so long. Things with Mom are about the same. Her sister has had another stroke and is in rehab now. I think I may be looking into my crystal ball as far as genes and health goes. I am now trying to combat as much of it as I can. I know I can't change the genes, but I can change the way I take care of myself....which is poorly! Although I am not a Catholic, I decided that during Lent I would do some sort of exercise every day. I joined the ALL HOURS fitness because I certainly need access at all hours. So far, I have been to it every day except Friday and that was strictly not of my own doing. I had no control over my time that day...SO, I guess I have already failed, but I will continue until Easter and then I will probably tone it down to a few days a week. My workout usually lasts about an hour, which includes 30-40 minutes on a treadmill or other cardio machine and some upper body and lower body weight machines. I enjoy it.

The gardening season is upon us. It's always a time I look forward to. My brother does most of the work because I don't get to Mom's until just after 3 P.M. He has been taking her outside in her power chair so she can watch him work and he can watch her between the time the caregiver leaves at 3 and I get there. He got the potatoes planted. My contribution to that was to get the seed potatoes all cut up the night before because I could do that after Mom was asleep. He also got his sugar cane in the ground. We also planted a few tomatoes in a raised bed. Last night we had to cover them with buckets to protect them from the cold. Gardening is just therapy for me. My dad loved it, too!

Finally!

We took Mom to the surgeon who put the peg tube in and got it out. My brother and I both left the room because we didn't want to see her hurt. By the time we got out, the doc said, "It's out!" We are all happy now. Mom turn 87 today so we told her that was her birthday present!

More frustration!

Mom woke up screaming and crying two nights in a row because of pain from that damn peg tube. Home Health told us yesterday to take her to the ER. We have already tried that and they did nothing, so we didn't do that. We may try to take her to the surgeon who put it in this week. It has been nothing but a pain...has never worked right for us although the Rehab nurses had no trouble getting her food and meds in. We have not used it since the first day or two after we got her home. It has blood around it and she won't let us touch it. It has only been in since December 21st and the doc says it has to stay 3 months and heal completely. It is never going to heal. We are just so frustrated seeing her in such pain. I started giving her pain meds Friday night.

Yay!

Things have been much better lately. My brother comes over every night to help me get Mom in bed and we are switching up staying with her after she goes to bed until a caregiver gets there. It has made it much easier on me to get to come home by 8 or 8:30 a few nights a week. Makes a huge difference. Don't know why it took us so long to figure this out. I still have an occasional melt down and cry a lot, but those days happen more rarely. My brother is going to be gone for a long weekend next weekend and he will go to Branson again in March. They have told me that I need to take a few days and go somewhere, but I told them it would be pointless for me because my brain wouldn't be with my body even if I went away.

I have taken advantage of some beautiful weather to do the spring cleaning in the yard. All the flower beds are clean, but I don't have them mulched yet, because Wal Mart is too slow getting the stuff unwrapped. All the flower pots are cleaned and ready for new soil and more beautiful flowers.

Also managed to get my new cabinets finished in the garage. Don't have it all organized yet, but maybe by the end of this week, I will.

EXACTLY!

ER AGAIN!

We spent all Friday afternoon in the ER. Mom's peg tube is stopped up again, has blood in it, and hurts her when it is touched. Something is wrong and her doctor told us to take her to the ER and get them to remove it. The ER doctor barely even looked at it, called the surgeon who put it in and he told the ER doc that it could not be removed, yet. It has not been there long enough to heal and it must be healed before it can be removed or the holes will not heal properly. Not sure what we will do now. The doc who put it in told us just to leave it alone since we are not using it anymore and not even try to flush it. I'm afraid this is not going to turn out well. She also has another UTI, which is why she must swallow her Cipro. She swallows everything else with no problem, including lots of other pills.

Divine Intervention

I did nothing but cry at Mom's today. Don't know why I am such an emotional wreck. I just held her and told her I couldn't stand to see her this way. I also had to deal with some bathroom issues tonight that I am just not equipped to do and that just threw me for a loop. I put her to bed at 7:00 like I always do and went back in the kitchen to read my book. My brother came in after his Bible study and told me to go home. He was going to stay until the caregiver got there. I was so grateful...but, he had NO CLUE what a wreck I had been all night! I just said "Thank you" and came home. Divine Intervention! I think so! There are NO coincidences!

No words!

Things are going OK with mom. She is having a hard time walking every day, but we make her do it with my brother or with the therapist. She ooohs and ahhhs the whole time, but we just ignore it because she is not hurting. She is just scared.

Finished up my root canal yesterday, got my regular check-up today from my doc.......so I am good to go until something else falls apart! Didn't even have to do blood work because everything was so good 5 months ago at my last visit.

It's Mardi Gras time in Louisiana, which means I miss being a member of my krewe. All the festivities started Saturday night with 12th Night. I'm trying not to be bitter!!!!

Home Again!

We brought Mom home on Wednesday because she just acted like they were killing her in rehab when they would try to get her to stand and take a few steps. My brother and I made the decision to just take her home...exactly the same thing we had to do after her last time in rehab after a stay in the hospital and getting so physically weak. She still was not swallowing and didn't seem to be making any progress with it. The caregivers said they were willing to try to take care of her at home even though she was much weaker and now had a peg tube. Since we got her home there has been a miraculous turn around. Not only has she swallowed everything, but she is walking with my brother and not having all the drama to go with it. She is getting stronger every day making it not so hard for me to take her to the bathroom during my shift. She is still getting her meds through the tube because we just have not tried getting her to swallow them, yet, but we have not given glucerna through the tube at all for the last two days. She seems to be eating enough.

As we were getting ready to check out of the hospital on Wednesday, I ran into my cousin in the lobby of the hospital. Her mother, my mother's sister, had been in the same hospital for two days. She went home the same day Mom did, but she is back there now with internal bleeding from an unknown source. This has Mom upset.

Mom doesn't seem to have much residual damage from the embolic strokes other than just mostly not being aware of much of anything and not being able to talk enough for us to understand. We had gotten where we could understand some of what she said, but not now. I guess we just dodged another bullet. We are thinking of gradually getting her off lexapro because she doesn't have much emotions left anyway and that is an expense we could dismiss.

Crap!

Mom is still in hospital. She is in the rehab unit, but not doing much rehab. We had a peg tube put in on Wednesday because she was not getting her meds down and it is absolutely essential that she get her blood thinner (Predaxa) down. She also was swallowing very little. She can swallow, but after a few times swallowing, she just forgets how and it just sits in her mouth until we get her to spit it out. It is very frustrating. Speech therapist has never seen a swallowing issue like this. Now they are weaning her off the IV nutrition while using the peg tube, but not allowing her to swallow anything. We didn't know it would be this way or we might not have agreed to it. She has a living will which specifies no heroic efforts. Doc assures us this is not heroic, but we want her to be able to keep working on swallowing food. They assured us that she could eat by mouth some and get her meds through the tube. So far, this has not happened and it is Christmas now and the staff is limited. The only thing she has to look forward to is eating...now we have taken that from her. She did some therapy yesterday, but was asleep when I got there after my root canal. I couldn't even make her wake up enough to tell me good night. She got gout in her good foot, which made her not be able to stand up. They gave her a steroid shot which helped that, but also sent her blood sugar through the roof. We are all frustrated.

Oh,No!

Mom has had another stroke. Happened on Friday while she was having lunch. Caregiver said her eyes rolled back in her head and she started foaming at the mouth. She called brother; he called ambulance. She also has a "rip-roaring" (doc's words) UTI. She slept all Saturday and Sunday, but today she is much better. Had a swallowing test, which showed she is able to swallow. Will start with pureed food, but she hasn't eaten since Friday. She is getting an MRI now to see if they can tell anything by that. She walked a few steps with the therapist today, but not many. Here we go again. Rehab next. She smiled big at me and held my hand and started babbling today when I walked in. Stewart was already there, so we knew she was better.

NIght off!

My brother is back from vacation, so he and his wife sent me home tonight after I took Mom to the bathroom. I showed them how to put her to bed and I got to come home. Feels good to be home so early. I am glad they are home and Mom is delighted they are back. She really missed him. I'm going to bed now and watch TV under the warmth of my electric blanket!

I'm tired!

I had a night off last night to go to my Sunday school party, but I was so tired that I didn't go. We had already had our neighborhood brunch, then I went to visit with Mom some. I had someone already hired for the evening, so after I gave her instructions on how to put Mom to bed, I went home, put the garage door down and went to bed. It was nice. Mom cried when the caregiver walked her yesterday, but my brother called and talked to her and she was alright after that. Today, the caregiver said there was no problem. She walked really good and didn't cry.

We are so grateful for the rain all day today. Our drought has been so severe that even the aquifers that our drinking water comes from are getting low. It is supposed to rain all night and tomorrow, so I think I will go to bed and enjoy it.

Rare day!

• Boiled chicken and took it off bones ( for cornbread dressing on Saturday)
• Washed clothes
• Paid all bills
• Went to Wal-Mart to buy stuff for our adopted soldiers in Afghanistan
• Went to Post Office
• Took cans to be recycled
• Installed new cordless vac in garage
• Toasted pecans for my world famous pralines
• Went to bank

ALL BEFORE NOON! OMG...THIS NEVER HAPPENS!

 I am feeling rushed to get things done because my brother is leaving to go to Branson tomorrow and I will feel compelled to go to Mom's in the morning to walk her and visit with her because that's what he does and then be back there at 3P.M. for my regular shift. When he is here, he is always there when the caregiver leaves until I get there. I will have to get there at 3 this week. Mom will miss him so much while he is gone and I will also want to pop in on the caregiver since she will know he is gone and won't be popping in. I live about 20 minutes from Mom, so it is not like popping in next door. On Saturday, I have our  annual neighborhood brunch at 11 and then at  5:30 I have my annual Sunday School Christmas Party. I have someone hired to come in for my shift, but I must get in Mom's walk and a visit with her. Last year when he was gone to Branson, Mom was in the nursing home here in my town....so it was easy for me to go at lunch when my brother usually went and go back again at night when I always went. It's different this year, but I am glad she is home.

Holy Crap!

One of our night time caregivers left us a note yesterday that she wanted a raise or she would be quitting after these last 3 nights. She is getting minimum wage, which is $7.25 for doing nothing except changing a diaper a couple of times a night...no laundry, no meal prep,   no nothing but sitting. Plus, we gave her stuff from our garden...okra, tomatoes, sweet potatoes and pecans. We talked to our day time caregiver about the demands the night lady was asking for and she relayed to her that we were looking for someone else.  The other night caregiver was fine with her pay and wasn't asking for anything. Well, turns out the demander has had a change of heart and doesn't want to quit. She just called me and told me she was going to stay after reading her Bible and praying about it! Yeah...I think God told her we were going to find someone to take her place!

Happy Thanksgiving!

My phone has been melting down today with all the Facebook birthday greetings and it has been awesome. What a great bunch of friends I have. Each of those over 100 greetings today made me stop and think about each individual and how I know that person. Most of them are students that I had at one time or another. Many of them I actually do NOT remember, but I know they know me. I couldn't dare tell them that I really don't remember them, so I cannot accept their friend request.

I visited my mom's sister today. She is in the same rehab that Mom was in last Thanksgiving. We had Thanksgiving dinner at the rehab dining room last year. Next week my aunt will be moved to a rehab in a nursing home close to her home. She can walk with a walker, talk and use both hands, so hers was not as bad as Mom's.

Last night, we took Mom to a dinner at her church where she thoroughly enjoyed it. One of the members stood up and gave a testimony about my mom and how grateful this person was for Mom in their church while she was growing up. Mom taught Sunday School for 50 years....the little bitty children! Made big ole tears come to my eyes and I almost lost it when my brother stood up and told everyone how grateful he was for his family and that we were able to bring our mother home. Makes tears come to my eyes right now!

Anyway.....it's been a great birthday.

Uh OH!

Mom's sister had a stroke last night. Doesn't seem to be as bad as Mom's was as there is no evidence of bleeding in the brain. Doc thinks it may have been an embolic stroke which originates in the heart and moves to block an artery to the brain, but does not go into the brain. She is in ICU today. I told Mom last night, but I had to because her phone kept ringing, so she knew something was going on. She was able to sleep after I told her that it wasn't as bad as they had first thought. She has right side weakness, but is not talking yet.

Most excellent day!

Mom

My mom had an awesome day yesterday. Her sister got to come visit for the first time since coming home from rehab. Mom was so excited. They just cried and held hands. I wasn't there when my aunt and cousin arrived, but my brother said it was quite a scene. He hadn't seen Mom so excited in a long time. There are only about 14 months between Mom and her sister, with Mom being the oldest. They had another sister who died many years ago from alcoholism. Mom had been to the beauty shop, so she was looking beautiful.

Her sister