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Susan will she not drink some of those protein drinks hun?
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Mom is doing pretty good today. Still not much appetite - she eats a few bites of fruit or a muffin (or other bread product - ugh!) but not much of any protein at all, so not enough to sustain herself for long. I brought her some cheese cubes and grapes this morning, and she ate a bit of cheese, so at least *some* protein.

Her memory is in/out, but that's to be expected. Yesterday, she was pretty cheerful and ready to go to the nursing home to start on her therapy. Today she's still thinking she can go home instead of the nursing home, but once reminded, she remembers that she needs to go to the nursing home for therapy...but is determined that after therapy, she is coming home. (I cautiously remind her that we have to see how much strength she can regain before we make that decision...the last thing I want is to sugarcoat it and tell her she can definitely come home when I don't know that it's true, so I'm riding the fine line of maintaining a cheerful outlook on things while also telling her the truth.)

Today she's very emotional, worried about one of my siblings, who has a serious infection from a recent surgery and is having trouble fighting it - Mom said, "she's too young to die". Yes, the infection is very, very serious, and if not controlled, it's going to be a serious problem, but I've been trying not to tell Mom the worst of it - but I think she senses how bad it is. So she's emotional about that. She called me 2 hours after I left this morning to come home to work and thought that she had fallen asleep while I was still there and that I left while she was asleep and was upset about that. (She was wide awake when I left and I kissed her goodbye.) She really doesn't do well with these hospital/nursing home stays, but I know we're coming close to the point of the nursing home stay becoming a permanent one. :-(
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CM take really deep breaths you won't need the G&T this evening!
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Hope, this guy just abandoned the little dog in the parking lot?? I will never understand people who do this sort of thing! I am so glad you took her in and will no doubt find her a good home. I hope you can get a couple hours of respite time for yourself. We don't ask for much but value the short hour or two more than many people value a huge vacation and they take it for granted. At least we make the most of every minute we get!
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My brother has been getting the entire weekend off for the past month, but his new thing is I don't know when he is coming ...he thinks it is amusing that he does not tell me...more than likely because he knows I won't go anywhere unless I am dressed and ready when he arrives...and I sure am not sitting here fully dressed all weekend...so now it is like he pops in, I might get to go somewhere for an hour or so...and I did last weekend and enjoyed it, but he actually did tell me he was coming then...BUT...I need to just tell him, look, I need to get out for a few hours, plan on coming at such and such time and be prepared to stay a while...so it's on me really. but it is amazing that even an hour or two to him is like all I need to get by....dear lord..haven't been away from this house overnight since April 2012....
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I'm so glad that I got my laptop from this Mom and Pop company..the guys are all extremely knowledgeable and at no additional charge they got it all set up for me so that when I brought it home, all I had to do was open it up and go!!! I have bought them before and had to do all the loading of programs, etc. and while I could do it, I hate doing it...so the fact they had it all set up and ready ,,,'

Well, this week I have been dealing with more of my problem of taking on more than I ought to...a week ago, one of the customers had brought his tiny terrier pup and just left it in the parking lot. The employees said he has brought it before, but he has never left it...This is a little one, almost like a Yorkie, but a little larger but cute as a button. Turns out it is a little girl, she's very sweet and other than being covered in fleas, which I promptly dealt with she's really a perfect little dog. My problem is I don't need to deal with anything extra...Her worst problem is she loves Mama and the minute she gets out of her room she flies in to the den where Mama is, and is so exctied she jumps up on her bed and pees all over her....I am losing my mind...I gave the employees my name and phone number and told them the little pup was about to get run over, because she almost got run over twice while I was trying to get to her...so I told them tell him I picked her up to keep her safe til he could call me...He hasn't called. I went back yesterday and they said he has not been back....I have been keeping her to give sufficient time to allow the owner to get her, but no postings, no calls, no anything and now I am thinking he probably accomplished his mission, leaving her there so some kind soul aka idiot, would get her....In a different world I would keep her, and I hope this week I could just make it work in the event he didn't come back, but I really need to rehome her for my sake and for hers....

Thankfully I have three different people who are interested in her and one of them is my chaplains in laws and that is the one I am praying works out....I won't let her go just anywhere..I want to know she is loved and safe...sometimes I wish things like this didn't bother me so much, but what else could I do????
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Countrymouse, LOL, good play on words :)
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I had a whine moment last night but you all were talking about good food and I didn't want to spoil that !! In short, something Mom ate must not have agreed with her though I can't imagine what as I didn't give her anything new and different than other times. I had to change her twice, bathe, and do 2 loads of laundry...I hope today is better but woke up to driving rain and the memory of other people telling me they are going to the movies today to check out a great new theater in a nearby town. Sigh....no way I can do that even with my SO here, and it looks that it will be a day of reading at best if there is not another repeat of last night...I had wanted to get some photos of my garden but the rain has put the kabosh on that too.
CM, I hope your visitor will be able to do the repair work! Had an electrician like that once in a previous home...he installed a light switch plate at a 45 degree angle!
Hope, glad you like your new devices. I am putting off upgrading for now until I have a clearer head to learn the things.....if that ever happens!
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CM I am afraid I would have had him go away til he sobered up.....or alternatively accidentally put the hose on full blast to give him a wake up call!

OK whine moment - I did pigs liver for lunch - its a fave in our household. I know better than to ask but I asked ' Did you enjoy your lunch?'
I have had better. I dont know why you keep giving me lamb chops you know I dont like chops or lamb
Ah ok Mum I will remember that!!!
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CM, it's an indication that he was nervous to come over because he finds you attrac. He was medicating his anxiety. Ask him to sit down for some tea.
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Snakes alive! Ex-SO's buddy is here to help with some house repairs, which is very nice of him, but the smell of alcohol is dizzying and it's half past ten in the morning for heaven's sake. I think it's not just the walls that are plastered...
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Glad your Mom is doing better Susan..hoping these are the first of a lot of good days ahead for her and for you.

Jeanette that sounds time consuming to me..Is it difficult? I would like to try some as I love mozzarella, but it does sound time consuming....

We have one of the thick egg crate padded pressure mattresses too. This one is not like the one we had for Daddy, which required power to run...that one was loud and he did not like it I recall as the noise disturbed him..this one is nice a comfy and Mama seems to be pretty comfy on it....
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I've been meaning to ask gershun if those were her kitties...they sure are cute...I know you miss your Mom....I can't even imagine...so far I have come close to losing mine, but she springs back and so we just go one day at a time...today has been a good day except it has been so hot..but now, thankfully, the cool front has moved in and I can tell a huge difference already....

Yeeha for me I finally got a new laptop...maybe now my eyesight can restore...I have a really good phone, nonetheless all that swyping gets old when i'm tryng to type a long winded comment. I really love this one, but it takes a little time getting used to the feel of the keyboard and such...but I really like it and I am so thankful....

Jeanette, hope you had a good afternoon and found those cows...:)

FB has been brutal on me the last couple of days. One of my so called friends lit into me about a post I made and the thing that po's me is he never comments on anything to do with my life until it is something where he can try to put forth his "learned" opinion on a topic..he is an attorney, and an arrogant one at that..a lot of high school pals have a huge issue with his arrogant condescending manner ...the fun part this time was two of my friends tag teamed him finally and he went away..that part was pretty fun.

The cat has just jumped off the back of the sofa upon seeing a small moth and landed on and skidded across my legs and feet and now they are bleeding profusely. Guess I'll go tend to that now....
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I should clarify it wasn't *me* making Mom walk the 25' in the hospital today - it was the PT department evaluating how far she could tolerate walking.

She is actually anxious to get out of the hospital and over to the nursing home to get started on her therapy. She is aware that at any point in time, her body may stop regaining its strength, and the nursing home stay may have to become permanent...but it remains to be seen if she remembers these conversations later.
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Shilo, if Medicare says they don't care about your back tell them they jolly well will care when you slip a disc and drop her. Ok, don't call it back injury risk. Call it handling risk.
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My mother's nurse came and checked my mother out. She does have bruises on her head, neck, ear, shoulder and right arm but no swelling so far. No signs of any concussion. The nurse told me not to give her any kind of meds for the next 48hrs or so that would make her sleepy in any way so we can monitor her and wake her up if needed. So no zofran for nausau, tramadol for pain, clonazepam for restlessness or melatonin for sleep. I did not give her any of those things last night but at 4am I was sure tempted to give her something because the poor thing was still awake saying she couldn't sleep. The nurse is coming back to see her again on Monday. She also has a scheduled visit to the neurologist on Tuesday to discuss medicines and I will let him know about her taking the tumble.
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My mom and I are not big on A/C until it hits these triple digits with the humidity. Of course with my mom's CHF we have to be very careful too. Anyway, I usually just use a fan and put some ice in a container behind the fan to cool off. When I had my dog he would sit right in front of the fan and block the air...you could not get him to move an inch.
Jeannette, the mozzarella cheese salad stuff sounds delicious.
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Yes Jeanette I use the blonde hair excuse too :) Me and my hubby have done a few trips around the Oregon area. Its so beautiful there.

I agree I'd trade missing my Mom for a few of those other things. The good days for sure.......
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Gershun far as I am concerned missing our mother's pales in comparison to some of the things we had to do for them. I'd wipe her butt in a minute to have a few more "good" days. NO bad ones...no no nooo bad ones.

Oh you are right near me. Basically right across the bridge! For some silly reason, blame it on the blonde hair, but I thought you were more NY side Canadian? You are in my same time zone so why in heaven did I think that? oh well.... guess I'm next :/

This house doesn't have A/C, I splurged some of ma's money to buy 2 - 10,000 BTU's portable ones. One for my room and one for the living /dining room. If I place fans strategically I can cool the majority of the house, plus keep the curtains drawn, doors closed.... bleh, talk about noisy and not at all helping with my sleep issue's. 2 big dogs and me in a full size bed trying to keep cool and sleep. Well... guess who hangsssss off the damn side of the bed. ---- ME My older girl, Daphne (14) is not feeling so good in this heat...she gets the good spot on the couch (for now).

Well, summer is here which means I have started making my fresh homemade mozzarella cheese/tomatoes/basil, otherwise known as Caprice Salad. Yum. First batch of the summer turned out pretty darn good :) The best thing about making this is you barely get the milk hot so no hot kitchen's to deal with. Very easy, much easier than you probably think and if you can't get a neighbor to milk their cow, I have used regular milk, worked just fine. YUM barely any carbs and full of protein too ;)

Shilo, the hospice here gave us the egg crate thing but it was SO much more than that. A good 4 plus inches thick with strategically placed slashes or slits to better fit the body. The hospital bed saved my back for sure. I hope you can get one without laying down the law on them. Shouldn't be so hard now should it?
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Yes Katie those are my fur children!!
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Gershun, Are those your kitties in the picture? I guess they would be. They are so cute!
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Jeanette its hot here too. I'm close to you in Vancouver. My kitties sleep in the bathroom when its this hot. One sits on the toilet tank, the other in the tub. Its kind of cute. I have my air conditioner blasting away and its soooo noisy that I have a headache all the time.

Its funny how these things seem so minor now in comparison to what all of you are going through with your dear Moms. Nothing like caregiving and then lack of to put things in their proper perspective. I really have nothing to complain about. Except missing my Ma :(
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Shilo you could try telling them Mom weighs 500 lbs and won't fit in a standard bed. The alternating air mattress is usually a separate order as will be an egg crate. if hospice comes in they will order the bed from their usual medical equipment supplier. No waiting required.
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CM, I will add the pressure sore risk to my list...good point. The geriatric bed, if that is what it is called, is a wider bed giving at least another 12 inches or so in width. I already tried the injury risk to me bit but medicare does not care about the caregiver's health. They are only insuring the person on medicare.

I just got off the phone with the lieutenant governor's office and I now have phone numbers to call on Monday to get help getting the bed from medicare. We shall see...not holding my breath.
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Shilo, two things to lay on with a trowel whenever you're speaking to anyone you think might be involved in the assessment: one, pressure sore risk (your mother); two, back injury risk (you). What's the difference with the geriatric bed? - are we talking about one with a variable pressure air mattress? They're bloomin' noisy, you know.
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Hope, I am still waiting for the HH agency to get a HME co. to process the request for a bed through medicare. The HME's have said medicare will not approve the fully electric geriatric bed. I don't really care what the HME's believe, it is not for them to decide what medicare will approve/deny. If I can't get any of them to process the request then medicare can not approve/deny the request. If medicare approves it then my mother gets the bed. If they deny it then I can start the appeal process. The HH nurse is going to look at the order from the doctor to see if it was written for just a fully electric or a fully electric geriatric bed. The HH PT never talked to me about it directly but she should have. I also talked to someone from a hospice service in the area about a bed if they were to come into the home. They would have to get specific orders from the physician for a specific type of bed. In other words, I would have a struggle on my hands there too. I have called a government agency today to inquire about getting help with a bed but just had to leave my name and number. Let's see how long it takes for them to get back to me.
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Oooh Susan, I too am happy she is doing better. My heart still aches for her having to go through this ordeal (you also). Times like this turn you into a mama bear protecting their young, in this case, your dear mother.

Agreed. Don't push her too hard, neither push yourself . I really REALLY hope they get this all figured out with her. See? Times like this you somehow kind of sort of don't mind a few tinkle mishaps when you see what they're going through today. Sigh. Hang in there Susan and mom!
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glad Mom is doing better Susan, Don't push her too hard.
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Mom is doing better today - yesterday she was just exhausted and very weak from all the stuff she went through. 6 hours of laying in an emergency room bed (uncomfortable as all heck) being poked and prodded and with a catheter in will wear anyone to a frazzle.

She's accepting of the fact that she needs to go to the nursing home for therapy and rehab, and the nurse case manager from the hospital agrees that unless she suddenly starts walking much longer distances than the 25' she managed to walk in the hospital today (which made her very weak and tired) that she needs to go to the nursing home, at least for therapy and rehab, and then we'll see where things go from there.
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Heat not best..arggggg
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