HAPPY MAY DAY..I got a call today from the NH, they have decided mom needs a psych evaluation in hopes of finding a different drug to give her to help her insomnia. I told them no way and not to change her meds. either. I am taking her for a check up on the 9th with her doctor and I am bringing her home the end of this month. Her insomnia is a result of her not having any stimulous during the day and being allowed to sleep where ever she sits down long enough, the same thing I allowed her to do here, which I realize now. She has always had trouble sleeping at night but it is/was because of her not doing anything to get tired enough to sleep and being allowed to 'nap' when she wants. I have decided to bring her home because I can't get it thorugh their heads that they are not doing right by her, since I am complaining so much I figured Id just do it myself again. his time though I will have help for 8 hours every Saturday and I will continue to look for work elsewhere. I have a girl set up to care for mom should I find work. I am not going to try to be superwoman this time, I know I can't do it alone anymore.
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Well, more news, Robert and Crystal have found an apartment and are moving out. He is still on Labor and Industries and having therapy for his shoulder, she is still working part-time and pregnant, but they are moving. I totally understand why they want their own place but it worries me that they are biting off more than they can chew right now especially since we still don't know if there are tripletts or not. I pray that everything works out great for them and they can keep this place. I sure didn't expect it so soon but knew it was coming.
We spent last night and today moving boxes and small stuff to the kids new place. I am looking forward to having a few weeks to myself. I am 46 and have never lived alone. I went from my mom's house to my own with my son David, then Robert, then mom and the kids grew-up and moved out and back again and out now and mom again. WOW, imagine that, two weeks alone. SMILE.
No moving today, it has been pouring buckets most of the day, thunder and lightening too. I used the day to begin cleaning out mom's room so I can paint it and shampoo the carpet before she comes back. I got a great surprize in the mail today. My friend Sue from Australia, who I met online through this site, sent me her new book today. It is about a family that is dealing with Alzheimer's Disease and get this, she dedicated it to me and my mom. Sue is a teacher in Australia and she once had her entire class write to us and we wrote back. We still have all the letters and mom remembers them and has me read them to her sometimes. If you would be interested in checking out Sue's book the title is "Sue Hines: The Plunketts" from Random House.
Spent most of today getting Robert all moved in and situated, it was a long day but we are done. It feels funny being here alone, kind of eerie but welcome.
Well I made it through my first night alone, I had a hard time sleeping being aware of the fact that it was just me and the dogs but once I realized that NO ONE in their right minds or crazy minds for that matter would dare attempt entry with my dogs around I felt better. No what to do for the rest of the day.
Today we are having a birthday party for Crystal, her 21st b'day was yesterday. I went to the store and got enough to feed an army, just in case. Their young friends have an appetite, HONEST.
We had a good time today, the weather was very kind to us, it didn't start raining until we were done and ready to call it quits. Oh to be 21 again, no thanks. SMILE.
I tackled mom's room today. Everything is moved out of it in preparation for painting and shampooing. I went through all her clothes too and have a BIG bag for Goodwill, she doesn't wear light clothing any longer so no need to keep it. I am painting her room a pretty pink color, something soothing I hope. Tomorrow she goes to the doctor for her check-up.
Mom got an outstanding report from the doctor. Her blood work is good, bladder infection is gone, heart and blood pressure are good but she has lost weight. She will gain it back when she comes home. He also wants to start her on Aricept once she comes home, so I can journal any changes for him. He still doesn't feel she truely has AD, dementia yes but most likely from the pernicious anemia and alcohol. She knows now that she is coming home the end of the month, she began telling everyone when she got to the NH. Some were happy for her, others didn't want her to go. Most of all SHE is happy. Crystal went for her check=up today also. All is well with her and the baby/babies. Her ultr sound is scheduled for 11:30 tomorrow morning, we find out for sure how many babies she is having and maybe the sex!!!!!!! HURRAY.. Oh I won't sleep at all tonight.
Well, we didn't find out anything about the pregnancy. The ultra sound tech was not exactly very nice nor very efficient. She checked Crystal's right side only, took one picture and that was it after an hour. She said the doctor would have to give the results out not her, so we don't know how many or even if she could tell the sex. I got mom's room done today, re-painted and re-decorated. All er old clothes are gone and just the ones she will wear are left. I am making an enclosure for her commode, to make it look a little nicer and putting in another rod on the wall where it will be, also got a baby gate to keep the big dogs in back with me when we are in bed in case mom gets up during the night she won't trip on them.
I went grocery shopping today and it took me over an hour to decide on what to get. I am not used to buying for one and was completely lost. I finaly just got some stuff and figured I would seperate it and freeze it in single portion, I just hate cooking for myself. I am so used to feeding for an army and having people around that it feels strange yet, shoot, I only have 20 days of it anyway, guess I'll live huh. I have finished reading Sue's book and it is wonderful. There are so may funny moments and others that made me say "Yeah, I've been there." I encourage those of you who like to read or just need a different look at AD and families to read it. I really think you'll like it too, "Sue Hines: The Plunketts" from Random House. You need to go to search, author to find the book.
I went out tonight with Robert, Crystal and two of their friends. It was really fun, I even danced a couple times and no hangover either. SMILE. Mom is doing fine right now. I went to see her and found a bandage on her toe, imagine that, it was evendated. I just had to laugh and of course mom thought I was laughing at her feet.
Getting ready for tomorrow. Mom is coming up for dinner, we are having a Mothers Day/Birthday party since mom's 85th b'day is Wednesday. I have most of the house work done though. I sure hope mom likes her room now that it is done.
HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO ALL. I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A WONDERFUL TIME.
We had a pretty good time today. Mom really enjoyed herself and all her gifts. She was disappointed that she didn't get to see her grand-daughters for very longbut understood why. My son and d-i-l are fighting again. so it was pretty stressful. We had a great dinner and cale and ice cream. Mom got 85 smacks too, well, taps actually. SMILE. She is so goofey sometimes, she was making up songs about the dogs, flowers, us, everythng that popped into her head. She is anxious to come back home too but "Only if I really feel up to it!!!!", she surprised me with this comment.
I spent most of today picking up from yesterday and getting things put back together. Mom did real good when I took her back yesterday, she reminded me that we only had a little over two weeks to get the carpet done.
I stopped by to see mom today, it wasn't a good idea. She was out on the patio singing kareoke(sp)but stopped when I got there. She is worried about the 'mountain going up again'. The papers and news are full of the Mt. Saint Helens Eruption 20 year anniversary and it has mom all nervous. It went off on the 18th, the day after her b'day and scared the heck out of her. She is also dwelling on Grandma. I think deep down inside a part of her remembers that Grandma died on the 18th too, 5 years ago, and this has her upset too. Anyway, she got mad and in a bad mood when I left and stayed in one all night according to the staff.
MY MOM'S 85TH BIRTHDAY, HAPPY B'DAY MOM
I called to check on mom and to let them know I would be in around 1:00 to take her for pie and coffee and they suggested that I didn't. She is still being mean and angry at ME so I didn't get her. I talked to her on the phone instead and boy were they right. She had it in for me, she didn't ever want to see me again and she hopes she dies in the eruption. WOW.
Called mom today, she isn't mad at me anymore, since the eruption didn't come she guesses she can forgive me for not bringing her home for it. O.K. I asked the staff to keep her away from the news and papers for awhile if possible. I spent today doing yard work since it was nice, it felt good being outside doing something physical.
I went down to Vancouver today, felt like getting out of town for awhile. I had a nice drive and treated myself to lunch also. The weather wasn't too nice but it was still nice.
Went to see mom this morning but she was still in bed and didn't want to get up for me or any other reason so I went home. I spent the day doing yard work, mowing, hedging etc. It was 80 today, very rare for us but oh so welcome. This is part of my yard.
Well, today I decided to drive to Portland. I went to the waterfront and Saturday Market. They have hundreds of vendors there, selling everything you can imagine. I love the cultural diversity, walking around and seeing people of many different colors reminds me of a flower garden with many different flowers and oh the aromas from the food vendors, the candle and perfume artisians along with the incense, how invigorating to the senses. The modes of transportation were equally satisfying: The senior citizen roller blading, strollers, bikes, runners, joggers, slow pokes(me) and the little dude about two that really thought he was jogging since his little arms were waving so. What a fine day today was.
The past few days have been very boring, nothing going on so..... Today I did get to take Reno to my grand-daughter Kali's Kindergarten class for show and tell. The kids really liked him and thought he was cute and smart, of course he loved all the attention. I also took him to the NH and mom showed him off to all her friends AFTER giving him her potato skins. LOL. Mom was sitting in the dining room and Reno found her without any trouble, he has a good sniffer on him. Mom was so excited to see us/him and very happy that she only has 5 days left there, she asked if she could give some of her friends the phone number and address so they could visit once in awhile or have somewhere to escape to, SMILE, I laughed so hard but mom got mad because she was serious! Some of the staff and residents family did get the number and address, they are going to call her just to say Hi. I wish more of the staff could be a nice as some of them are.
I think I am just about ready for mom's return. I have the kitchen ready for painting and will start the hallway tomorrow, this way it will be lighter for her to navigate around. My friend Betty is all ready for Saturdays too, even eager to get started.
Betty came over today to get herself familiar with things, where mom's meds. will be kept, her lunches, pads etc. She is really going to be a big help for me. It is going to seem funny having mom back here for awhile I'm sure, at least my 'one ear glued to her room at all times' is still functional. LOL. I have three more days to get things together around here.
I got mom at noon and headed out for the day. We went to McDonalds for lunch then Walmart to get her Rxs., of course they weren't ready so. We went home and got settled in, clothes hung up, toileting done etc., I called Walmart at 5:00 to see if the Rxs were ready yet and was told that the NH hadn't sent over prescriptions just their med. sheet so they were waiting for the doctor to call, being Wednesday the doctor was not in! but the pharmacist said the three day supply the NH gave me should be enough except I didn't get any supply. So I called the NH back and told them about this, got the administrator on the phone and she wound up hand delivering a days supply of meds. to me at home! being very apologetic. The rest of the day went very well with mom,(although she did not stop talking/singing all day) we had a good dinner, watched some t.v. and had a snack. I put mom to bed at 10:30, thinking she would sleep soon because she was SO tired, wrong. She stayed awake singing and talking to herself until 1:00 a.m., this is very new behavior for her. I am going to discuss it with her doctor, I'm thinking it is a sort of coping mechanism that she developed, nothing to do and no one to talk to, so this began. I'm hoping this is it, at least if it is I can maybe help it to stop.