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My mum has taken medication not intended for her. How you might well ask. And you might well ask. I took her to a memory clinic and she went one way to join a group while I went another. one of the men in the group said he had found the cure for constipation...oh I suffer from that says mum (at least as far as I can tell this is how it went). Have these he said I always keep two with me just in case. So she took these two tablets and squirreled them away then last night when she thought I havent been all day (she had ...twice....she took these two talets ...senna

So today is our selling open day and I was woken at stupid o'clock to yet another explosion and her saying we have to cancel Im nmot well.

Well when I went to put her diaper in the bin I noticed some tablet outers - the foil things...now they are always in my bin outside so I was curious and found the senna. 3 hours later and with windows open, the room still smells a little yukky but i have hosed the commode down outside, deep cleaned and then steamed the carpet - luckily most went on the plastic which is now in the bin.

9:27 and she say I want to go back to bed.....well sorry Mum this time you can't
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Everything can set me of and make me cry when I'm hyper emotional or very tired. Even going to Walmart is a tearjerker when i remember not so long ago Mama and i would go and just browse for fun home stuff and it was the best time. Its hard knowing that is part of my past now. I hit the hay sooner than usual tonight because my cousin will not sleep on a bed and insists on sleeping on the sofa beside Mama and she was not going to bed and Mama was getting fractious so i just started turning off lights and hollered time to hit the hay ladies. ...im amazed a grown woman wouldn't get that Mama bed to be asleep by now . I guess she means well..Just does not think
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Hope the yelling is probably cause of her hearing aid. You mentioned that in one of your earlier posts. People who can't hear properly tend to yell. I hope you find your kitty.

Jeanette sorry about your dog. A girl ran out in front of me and Hubby today with her german shepherd. We came so close to hitting them. Thank goodness not!

When we got home there was a raccoon in the yard standing on his hind legs looking at us. So cute but we scared him off. Raccoons and cats don't mix.

I burst into tears at the grocery store today. So many things remind me of my Mom. For some reason when I'm home I'm fine but as soon as I am out I get all weepy. I think some kind of grief counselling is in order for me. Even though I was putting down psychiatrists I may have to go see one soon.
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It has been a crazy day - still trying to catch up on my work after the round with the nosebleed this morning.

Thank you all for the suggestions on the nosebleeds. I've heard of the Afrin trick before, and will be investing in some of that as well as the nosebleed sponges that expand in the nostril to stop the bleeding and allow it to clot off, but won't dislodge the clot when removed. Mom has always twisted up tissue and stuffed it up there, and then ends up dislodging the clot when she removes it. The sponges will help with that.

We have the humidifier on her O2 condenser now and we're using distilled water - it has already made a difference.

Back to work. I still have a couple of hours ahead of me.
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Well, the visit will be over tomorrow and i have hung in there. Gotta say i will not be doing this overnight company again during caring for Mama. The amount of work added to my already wearisome routine had about done me in. I think the constant chatter is really bothering Mama, who is not feeling well anyway, but i notice she is seeming confused and aggravated. .more than usual. I think not being able to understand what she is saying is hard for her. ..and i know she can't help it but it is wearing on me too. Also why do people sometimes find it necessary to yell wheen they're talking. ..believe me i can hear. ..
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SUSANA43: Does your Mom use the nasal oxygen (canal)? If so, does she use distilled water in her water pump? Mom had severe nose bleeds for a while until I inquired about what may be causing them. Her doctor suggested the distilled water in water pump. And, a nasal gel OTC if necessary. A small amount of petroleum jelly on a q tip also gives moisture to nostrils. I hope this helps.
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Oh Jeanette, I just have to give {{{Pibs}}}. When you were talking about putting your pool in I asked about a pool party. Nice thing about a pool party is you don't have to have your house clean since everyone is out by the pool! (just guessing since I don't have one or know anyone that owns one) I hope you and pibs relax and recuperate tonight.
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I just realized something tonight. When I talk with my sister I usually update her on dad but I do not ever think she has asked me how is dad doing first. So I am not going to update her and see if she finally asks.
Have had a dull headache most of the day and the chills just a little while ago so I had a visit with dad early this afternoon.
Spoke with the nurse who still had not heard back from his doc about prescribing the anti-anxiety meds I called the doc office this morning for his 6 month checkup which is overdue and never thought to ask if his doc was on vacation. Ack....
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Jeanette i hope your baby is ok. I know how upsetting it is when our furtots are hurt..im sorry
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Shilo....amen..i hear ya. ..i get so tired of all the people i have to deal with including whom i now know do not care about me but seem to come to alleviate their guilt for doing nothing else. ..my life has not been mine for almost 4 years and i am exhausted from it all. All the stuff all overthe place, i feel like i am living in a nursing home. One of my kitties is missing since last night and i am holding onto hope he has followed a wayward tom cat as he did before but having this company occupying all my time has made them all nervous and i think that is why they don't want to come in. Shilo you said it all so well i don't even need to say more. .bravo
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Jeanette, the pool sounds so nice. I hope poor Pibble feels better soon...keep Pibble close and give a hug.
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Jeanette, Pibble was just playing or she'd have killed him. Poor little girl, having a nasty shock like that. Nicely brought-up Staffies are understandably very upset when they meet less well-mannered dogs. Our boy is always exquisitely polite unless the other dog gets lippy - at which point we head straight home. The other thing that turns him into a slavering devil dog is an electric fence - they're so unfair! They creep up on you and make your hair stand on end. Hope Pibs will be ok in a day or two - does she have other doggy friends to restore her faith?
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I agree with you Shilo about all those medical, physical therapy, ER, hospitals, and nursing home personnel that have come barreling into our lives this past year and not wanting to see these people again ever. I am a very private person too, and for all these people to come into my life the past year it has been somewhat tiring and intrusive.
I have often tried to count all these people and usually fall asleep at night before I get to several hundred people. After all these people the past year, no wonder I enjoy my time alone. I do NOT count the wonderful hospice people among those I never want to see again though...they are just fantastic and I am so glad for them.
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Shilo, I shall join you in a drink. Seems it's just not been a fun week for most of us. I just have not felt like doing anything inside the house. More fun being outside :) Of course this means the inside looks like a friggin bomb went off... laundry piles on the table, recliner...oh and of course, 2 chairs around the table... the table is full of mail which I can't see anymore due to the clothes so out of sight out of mind for that!! LOL shame on me cuz I know it's gonna be harder work whenever I do decide to mop up this mess. phhhbbtt

My friends husky viciously attacked my pibble last night... over a damn rawhide thing. Rushed my baby to the vet, 3 laceration inside her mouth and her tongue and a bruised nose. Yes she's a 80 lb American Staffordshire mix (pit bull) but she's a sweetheart and not vicious. She fought back but got the bulk of the bites. Guess who was in the middle each hand holding a collar trying to pull them apart? Me... it was frightening for both of us. My pibs was in shock and still isn't quite ok. She's glued herself to my side and trembles.

OH!! THE POOL IS UP! I must say it looks pretty spectacular even if it's bigger than I imagined it would be. It should take about 48 hours to fill it up... 8600 gallons. Ssshhh, I'm hearing on the news that we are in a "drought effect". Yikes, they may come empty my pool.... wahhhh

I need motivation and energy please. Thank You.
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I was a loner before my mother came to live with me. I was a loner before I started taking care of her. When I say I am looking forward to the day when I can be a loner again, it is not the day without my mother for I will always miss her when she has passed. No, I am looking forward to the day I do not have to talk or see people from medicare, medicaid, medical professionals, aides, transportation, medical equipment personnel, billing personnel who didn't get the correct account information and sent up a bill we don't have to pay, family members that always think they have the right to this that and everything when they give nothing, and whoever else I have left out that I have to deal with just because I take care of my mother. I don't know about any of you but I am glad I got that out!

My mother had the gastroscopy done this week. It did not show any structural problem nor any visible tumors obstructing the path. There were a few red spots the surgeon biopsied by he didn't feel they were anything to be concerned about. So where does that leave us????

The aide - I let her work 2 mornings a week so she could have her afternoons to do her volunteer work somewhere else. I let her start an hour early another day. She didn't work the day my mother had her procedure. The one day I wanted to go out so I could take care of something for someone else...the aide calls to say she isn't coming because she is congested and she isn't sure if she is getting sick or it is just her allergies. She was fighting her "allergies" all week but she came the other days, just not the day important to me. She know I wanted Friday morning to go somewhere. In the 15 hours she worked this week she didn't change my mother's brief once.

Think I will have a few drinks tonight.
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I've had nosebleeds off and on since childhood ranging from mild to long nights in ER. There's a powder product sold over the counter, used to be called QR, now WoundSeal, which is quite effective in stopping even major nosebleeds. The only worry would be that one must not inhale as it is applied. If she can follow that directive it is worth a try. Has saved me a couple trips to ER.
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No one will want to do this but the ER doc locally always said pinch the nostrils for half an hour. the Afrin sounds like a much better idea.
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Susan - My mother's ENT suggested buying a bottle of Afrin nose spray to keep on hand to use when she got uncontrolled nose bleeds. Saturate a q-tip with the Afrin and swab the bleeding nostril then pack it with a cotton ball for 15-20 minutes (or as long as your mother will keep the cotton in her nose, whichever is longer). My mother would not leave the cotton in her nose for very long but using the Afrin stopped us from having to go to the ER. The ENT said if the nose bleeds continue to make an appointment to see him to see if he needed to cauterize any spots again.
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Susan this probably sounds like a daft question, but is it always the same nostril? My mother turned out to have a little rogue vein that in the end they cauterised - not fun, but it did solve the problem. Next time you see a doctor ask him to shine a light up there and have a look - the worst that can happen is you're no further forward.
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Rough day for Mom today. Nosebleeds twice last night, and twice this morning, each one took longer to stop. 4th one was almost a trip to the ER. The O2 is drying out her nose and her blood vessels are too close to the surface in her nose - she's *always* had nosebleeds for as long as I can remember. Blows her nose too hard - nosebleed. Goes through the detergent aisle in the store - nosebleed. Bumps her nose - nosebleed. And now that dementia has set in and she absent-mindedly picks at her nose...nosebleed. We have a humidifier on her O2 condenser now, so hoping that will help - because nosebleeds and coumadin aren't exactly good bedfellows.

She's still extremely tired, and having not slept well last night due to the nosebleeds, she's even more tired today. PT today consisted of deep breathing exercises and a walk to the bathroom - that was all the further they wanted to push her at this point, which was fine by me.
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Guest...lord that is what I'm afraid of. ..it is heartbreaking but o know it is going to be a very difficult adjustment finding myself alone and I cannot do this again. I would willingly do it again for Mama but I am tired of assumptions that because I'm not married I have nothing else to do. I emotionally cannot take it on. Thanks. ...

I just got through a sinkful of dishes and everything else and about to try to get the wrecker to haul my truck to get new tires because my sidewall busted out. By the time I repair everything my nephews tore up on Daddy's truck I will have a new vehicle. .it's kind of like a little project I am doing in his memory. .I feel like he is close to me when I'm working on it. ..I finally got all the tacky ugly messy stickers and decals off the windows, got it all nice and clean and spotless and put on my new cat lady decal. I did leave Daddy s FOP sticker on because he put that one on. .so his is on one side and mine is on the other. ..I enjoy working on that little truck. ..people are always wanting to buy it but i tell them they will megger have enough money to buy it from me
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Hope, just hugs for you. Your Mama was your decision to care for. Funny, if you do a good job taking care of someone, everybody decides that you are the person for them! My FIL and MIL have been trying to "hoover" me into the Fear Obligation Guilt zone since they moved to our state 5 years ago. My husband is finally recognizing the manipulations (sometimes) but it took me saying NO. Based on my aunt who came for a visit with my mom and just never left (well, feet first finally when she passed away on mom's couch from COPD) - just make sure each visit with this relative has a defined arrival and DEPARTURE date in writing before she comes. You will need time for you when Mama is ready to go. And don't agree to let her come stay with you to "sort things out". She may never leave. HUGS.
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Katie - I too understand what you are going through. When I run to the store for to pick up a few things I only wish my mother could come along for the ride. If only I could get her out of bed, into a wheelchair, into the car, etc. We use to take rides to calm her when I could tell her heart rate was us up and she was restless. The one thing that seemed to calm her was a ride in a country setting. I just got in the car and drove. I can't do that now...not without mom...tears running down my face.
Hope - I had a scare this week similar to yours. I gave my aunt my mother's results of the procedure she had done on Tuesday. She called me the next day to ask what the results of the tests were. I was about to say I talked to you yesterday but realized what was most likely happening and just pretended it was our first call. I my mind though it was OH NO now she is having memory issues too. It is not the first time I have noticed problems with her either and she has no one else in the area. My mother is all I can handle right now and can't say I'm doing very well with it right now.
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Well, the company is still asleep...i am letting Mama sleep in a bit too. I have been or looking for one of my kitties. I could not get her in last night and the hour was so late and i was completely exhausted. ..my cousin i believe could have kept going for hours...said she had not been so rested in a long time. ..........hmmmmmm.........anywho, on that same note, for a while her speech has been noticeably slurred and now it is to the point that unless you read her look as she is speaking i really can't understand what she is saying. .it is pitiful. I guess i am feeling horrible for saying anything about her visit now but in the other hand, and yall please forgive me on this one, with nerves already to the cracking point, listening to someone speak almost noon stop, the whole day and not being able to understand most of what they are saying has driven me a little batty....they have done tests and continue to do so but all they are telling her is it is a progressive nerve disease. ..she seems to have symptoms of ALS and that really scares me for her. I know she is scared and i am thinking she is looking ahead hoping to move in here. .. no....just no. Good forgive me i cannot do it
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Katie, dear i know what you are going through with this. Since Mama became bedfast, 1 1/2 years now, she has gone in and out of these states do many times i have lost count. I was told several times she was in the dying phase and as ice mentioned before i have prepared so many times for that time and then all of a sudden she perks upand is"back" at present she seems in a holding pattern, is fairly alert for about an hour early in the morning them she sleeps pretty much the rest of the time. Even changing her does not wake her most of the time. I, like you, know that one day she is not going to bounce back. ..if you can call it bouncing cause when i say she's back it is mostly that she is alert a little more and a tad more communicative. It is so completely draining to see her like this. There are even moments where i wish, for her sake, she could gently be released from this seeming prison her frail body holds her in. I truly do want her to stay as long as she wants to and is happy but it is soooo hard seeing her this way. .and so often it seems she is mostly gone already. So many emotions, i will pray for you and your Mom...i do understand how mind bending it is
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Mom getting very uncommunicative...kind of sullen and serious and she is sleeping so much. She is getting very picky about what she eats and eating little. At least sleep is peaceful and she is not having delirium. That frightens me as she gets agitated often with the delirium and I don't want her falling out of bed as she cannot walk or stand. I do have the hospital bed all the way down and a safety mat down. She has been in and out of this state for a year now but it has gotten worse in the last weeks and I know one of these days she is not going to snap out of this.
I cannot begin to describe how all of you have gotten me through the worst days of my life, just knowing you all are out there and understand exactly what I am going through.
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Ff I can see how you can feel comfortable volunteering at the hospital and interacting with people although you are not social. There is a barrier of officialdom between you and them so you are in control.
Drop by for a sandwich any time - heaven only knows what i will find to put in it so take your chance or bring me one too
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Well, we are moving into the evening hour. ..and i am exhausted. ..but then i am always exhausted. ..cooked a good dinner after the market didn't have the fresh fruits i entree. It was very good and she actually did ask if she could help. ..that was a shocker. ..i am about to our my feet up and i am being I'm going to fall asleep. Criss off day one. .so far so good. ..
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very often the Dr would ask me what to put on the death certificate and my standard answer was multiple system failure secondary to cancer of whatever else the patient had. the only way to be really sure is an autopsy and few people want to go that route..
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Jeanette it does make your head spin, that box on the death certificate. But do you know, we had a main factor and then a short list of contributory ones, and one of them made doctor daughter scratch her head and say "eh? Where did that come from?" but I've already forgotten what it was - and normally I'm a bit obsessional about detail, it's not like me not to pay attention. Did her heart make her kidneys pack up or did her kidney failure strain her heart and did her heart function lead to a blood clot or did a clot in the end give her a heart attack… It isn't that I don't care, it's that no one seems to know and in the end, what's the difference? But, yes, I hate it too.

I suppose by the time people are so medically complex and so frail, and especially when active treatment has been withdrawn and only palliative care is being given, it must be pretty much impossible to single out a definite culprit.
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