So my Grandmother has been living with the Caregiver at her in town home in Pine Mountain now for a week. She had several visitors drop by to see her last Saturday. The Caregiver actually took her to Church on Sunday… can you imagine? My Grandmother has not been to a Church for service in over two years! Her only complaint was that the service took too long… Ha-Ha! On Monday, they went shopping at one of the local dollar stores. And yesterday they drove all the way to Columbus and had lunch at a Mexican restaurant and then went to the movies for a matinee!! Can you believe it? My Grandmother has not been to a movie in YEARS. Of course, she pretty much slept through the entire movie… I mean it IS dark in the there and all….
So all in all, I would have to say that she couldn’t possibly be bored at her new home. I mean where would she be able to find the time to be bored when she is so busy flitting around like a socialite? Her new bed arrived today and her nurse will start showing up this Friday to assess her current physical condition being in a new home and all.
And today my Mother drove me to the wholesale store and I purchased 3 more cases of adult pull-ups for her- Super-Absorbent mind you. My tiny Grandmother packs a powerful punch when it comes to her business and only the Super-Absorbent will take care of it… Ha-Ha!
I am still very sore today on my third day of Recovery. We put up all of the Christmas knick-knacks except for the actual Christmas tree or its ornaments… I am saving that chore for Hubby whenever he decides to stay home with me and not at work long enough to do that job- hopefully this weekend at the latest.
Today was the last day of 2008 and tomorrow brings a new year. And what a year 2008 has been for me. I just hope and pray that 2009 turns out better.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Recovery Day 2
We finally made it back to our home here in Marietta on Saturday evening after all the Christmas festivites. How tired were we! We decided to catch a movie that night- "Seven Pounds"... and what a tear jerker it was! 4 out of 5 stars from me. We spent Sunday doing laundry, running errands and getting ready for my surgery the next morning. Well, the 7am gall bladder removal surgery went well and we were home around 1pm. I have four nice incisions visible in my tummy area to show the world. And I am VERY sore indeed! I spent most of yesterday either sleeping, hiccup-ing, drinking fluids and feeling very, very nauseated... it was awful! But, today I feel much better- the nausea is gone but, the soreness has really set in. I pretty much hung around the house all day relaxing... I did manage to get some of my Grandmother's business taken care of by phone too. My Mom is here too and she brought her little lap dog with her. So watching little Cooper goes nose to nose with big ol' Sampson is pretty entertaining. All in all, the day passed by pretty fast. Other than figuring out that daytime TV is awful, today was a good day.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Happy Christmas
Merry Christmas to one and all! Just like my Grandmother agreed with me earlier this afternoon, this has been one fabulous day for our family. We were up early and successfully picked up my Grandmother at her now former apartment. And she was SO ready to go! The lady who runs the kitchen told us when we first got there that my Grandmother had been walking around for a week just glowing… that she was the happiest she had EVER seen her in the past two years at the assisted living center. The lady said that she knew how happy my Grandmother was about going home and how much better should would be there. I packed her up a suitcase and we were headed back to our hometown to celebrate Christmas with friends and family. We had a great day seeing old friends and family, eating wonderful food and treats, watching my nephew rack up on Santa goodies and being lazy.
And then we took her to her home… and praise the Lord it happened without a single problem! She took the Caregiver wonderfully… we stayed around for a couple of hours with her and she just blended right in to the lady’s home. I could not have asked for a better transition… what a wonderful Christmas Day. Let me spread my happiness… Happy Christmas!
And then we took her to her home… and praise the Lord it happened without a single problem! She took the Caregiver wonderfully… we stayed around for a couple of hours with her and she just blended right in to the lady’s home. I could not have asked for a better transition… what a wonderful Christmas Day. Let me spread my happiness… Happy Christmas!
Monday, December 22, 2008
God Is Good.
God is good.
Those are the words that have kept vibrating in my ears over and over and over for the past week. And how true it is…
I carried out my plan as outlined prior to my trip last week to El Paso. I returned to Atlanta on Wednesday afternoon and then made the trip back home to meet the new Caregiver in person. Both of my parents met me there to meet this lady and the meeting went pretty well. She lives in an old Victorian house right smack in the middle of town- the house has been completely renovated. When we walked into the door, the smell of pie just knocked you over. She had baked eight pecan pies that day for Christmas gifts!
She is a collector of many things… mostly trinkets… angels mostly. I just hope my Grandmother doesn’t break any of them! And she does have two little lap dogs and a bird… maybe my Grandmother will grow to love and enjoy them… She will be my Grandmother’s companion 24/7… she will take her to Callaway to see the flowers, she will take her to the cemetery to visit my Grandfather, she will do her hair, she will take her to Church, she will do any thing she wants or needs…she cooks only homemade country meals… she loves to work in the yard… all the thing my Grandmother used to enjoy so much… it all just sounds too good to be true…
We left there and took off for my Grandmother to break the news to her. I picked her up at her apartment and took her to the restaurant to meet my parents for supper. We settled into our meals when I finally started telling her… at first she cried. Then, she asked each of them what they thought about it (of course, not me since I am the instigator of all evil!). Then she cried a little more… after 30 minutes of explaining to her that she would be fine and love this lady and enjoy being in her home town again where all of her friends are, she was fine… we told her she had one week until we brought her home for Christmas… for good. She seemed okay with all of this when I left her that evening. I left the 30-day notice letter under the Director’s door that night. The next morning when I called her to make sure she remembered the upcoming move…not only did she pick up the phone on the second ring (which has not happened in a long time) she told me very clearly that she was ready to go home. I questioned her eagerness to go… she said she talked to God about it the night before and he told her that she should go to this lady. I could not have been happier at that moment! She was actually excited about it! And every day since that moment, on every phone call I make to her, she still brings it up and asks questions about her new home, the lady, and how much longer before she leaves…
I know that at first she will not like it. I know this transition will be a tough one for her and the rest of us. She will hate it for the first few weeks but hopefully the Caregiver will win her over with pie or homemade sweet potato soufflé. Heck, maybe we can move in with her too if she is going to just keep cooking like that!
So the move is on… I did talk to the Director that next day… she was so shocked over the letter under her door. I did not give her any negative feedback on their end at all- it is after all water under the bridge at this point. Besides, why cause ripples when the other is such a great thing for my Grandmother? I have worked out most of the other things like medical prescription transfers, etc. So now I am just waiting for Christmas Day… More like Moving Day for some of us… Fingers crossed!
Oh, and God is good.
Those are the words that have kept vibrating in my ears over and over and over for the past week. And how true it is…
I carried out my plan as outlined prior to my trip last week to El Paso. I returned to Atlanta on Wednesday afternoon and then made the trip back home to meet the new Caregiver in person. Both of my parents met me there to meet this lady and the meeting went pretty well. She lives in an old Victorian house right smack in the middle of town- the house has been completely renovated. When we walked into the door, the smell of pie just knocked you over. She had baked eight pecan pies that day for Christmas gifts!
She is a collector of many things… mostly trinkets… angels mostly. I just hope my Grandmother doesn’t break any of them! And she does have two little lap dogs and a bird… maybe my Grandmother will grow to love and enjoy them… She will be my Grandmother’s companion 24/7… she will take her to Callaway to see the flowers, she will take her to the cemetery to visit my Grandfather, she will do her hair, she will take her to Church, she will do any thing she wants or needs…she cooks only homemade country meals… she loves to work in the yard… all the thing my Grandmother used to enjoy so much… it all just sounds too good to be true…
We left there and took off for my Grandmother to break the news to her. I picked her up at her apartment and took her to the restaurant to meet my parents for supper. We settled into our meals when I finally started telling her… at first she cried. Then, she asked each of them what they thought about it (of course, not me since I am the instigator of all evil!). Then she cried a little more… after 30 minutes of explaining to her that she would be fine and love this lady and enjoy being in her home town again where all of her friends are, she was fine… we told her she had one week until we brought her home for Christmas… for good. She seemed okay with all of this when I left her that evening. I left the 30-day notice letter under the Director’s door that night. The next morning when I called her to make sure she remembered the upcoming move…not only did she pick up the phone on the second ring (which has not happened in a long time) she told me very clearly that she was ready to go home. I questioned her eagerness to go… she said she talked to God about it the night before and he told her that she should go to this lady. I could not have been happier at that moment! She was actually excited about it! And every day since that moment, on every phone call I make to her, she still brings it up and asks questions about her new home, the lady, and how much longer before she leaves…
I know that at first she will not like it. I know this transition will be a tough one for her and the rest of us. She will hate it for the first few weeks but hopefully the Caregiver will win her over with pie or homemade sweet potato soufflé. Heck, maybe we can move in with her too if she is going to just keep cooking like that!
So the move is on… I did talk to the Director that next day… she was so shocked over the letter under her door. I did not give her any negative feedback on their end at all- it is after all water under the bridge at this point. Besides, why cause ripples when the other is such a great thing for my Grandmother? I have worked out most of the other things like medical prescription transfers, etc. So now I am just waiting for Christmas Day… More like Moving Day for some of us… Fingers crossed!
Oh, and God is good.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
My Christmas Wish
I have my plan in place today. Now we just have to wait until my flight arrives in Atlanta from El Paso tomorrow afternoon... barring no flight delays. I will be driving down to my home town to meet the Sitter in person. If she is everything I think she is now, this mission is a Go! Again, I just keep praying that my Grandmother's reaction tomorrow evening is as happy and elated as mine is right now over this. And then every thing else will just fall into place...
Over the weekend Hubby asked me what I wanted for Christmas this year... I told him this is my Christmas wish.
Over the weekend Hubby asked me what I wanted for Christmas this year... I told him this is my Christmas wish.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
The Crossroads Along Dementia Lane
I am at a crossroads this week. And I think I know which way to turn, but I keep questioning myself. Besides being terribly busy between work, travel, boot camp, karate, Christmas, my Grandmother and my upcoming surgery (oh, did I mention that I am going into surgery the Monday after Christmas?), I am facing a huge, huge decision regarding my Grandmother. And this decision will turn the tables completely around in our dance with dementia. I am looking at an opportunity that is so big for her that it will change her world in epic proportions- but in a really great way. Here is how it all started:
Last Sunday night I received a phone call from one of her dearest friends from back home. She told me about how another lady in the Church had approached her regarding a caregiver in our hometown that cared for elderly folks with dementia. She gave me a brief description and a phone number. I did not really think too much about it right then. A couple of days later (after more reports from the sitter about my Grandmother’s bizarre behavior) I started pondering the thought of calling the other lady from the Church. After talking with my Mom, she called her first and got the information. Then, I called the lady from the Church myself and asked my own questions. It felt right to call the Caregiver lady myself by then. I made the call last Wednesday after I arrived home from my work trip to El Paso. We talked for over an hour! She had an answer to every question or scenario I threw at her! She has spent the last 8 years caring a for a doctor and his wife there in my hometown- the husband past after the first 5 years and then the wife 3 years later. The wife was bed-ridden the entire last year of her life and never had a bed sore the entire time! This Caregiver has experience in caring for even the worse conditions… immobility, dementia, incontinence; you name it- she knows how to take care of it. She has all of the medical equipment in her home to help care for my Grandmother, as she needs them: hospital bed with rails, walkers, wheelchairs, etc. She was a hairdresser in her previous life- so that takes care of her hair! She will cook her favorite foods, dress her, bathe her, deal with her incontinence, take her out for walks, read to her, play her favorite music, help her answer the phone when we call, let us come visit any time, the whole 900 yards!
Today I called the son of the couple she cared for mentioned above, he told me that if was lucky enough to find this lady and get to use her care giving services, I would be the second luckiest person in the world next to him being the first. I think that statement says it ALL.
There are so many things to do in order for this transition to happen and I am frantically trying to work them over the course of the next few days. I am out of town for work again Monday to Wednesday- El Paso again. A trip to my hometown after my trip to meet this Caregiver in person seems to be the next step. And then on to tell my Grandmother will be the next step. I have a rough draft mapped out of the way it will have to have happen considering my travel schedule, Christmas and my surgery. But, we have to move quickly because it looks like the sitter I am paying to stay with her night where she lives now is going to be a permanent fixture after my Grandmother’s episode by herself one night last night. I will not expose the details but believe me- it was a filthy scene. One that could be avoided if she had that 1 on 1 care that a Caregiver can provide- like the lady I am pondering.
I will have to give notice to the place where she lives now too. I just hope that does not turn into a big ordeal based on the big deal they made over the whole sitter-hiring episode. That was all their little cup of tea anyway.
I think I have a plan. I am pretty sure I have a plan that will work. And that will work for the best… the best for my Grandmother and the best for her family. I cannot think of a better Christmas gift to give her- the gift of moving home. She will be at home in her home town, just a block from her Church, just down the road from her friends, just a few miles from her family… I just pray she grasps this opportunity with open arms. This is my prayer for this Christmas holiday season. Won’t you join me?
Last Sunday night I received a phone call from one of her dearest friends from back home. She told me about how another lady in the Church had approached her regarding a caregiver in our hometown that cared for elderly folks with dementia. She gave me a brief description and a phone number. I did not really think too much about it right then. A couple of days later (after more reports from the sitter about my Grandmother’s bizarre behavior) I started pondering the thought of calling the other lady from the Church. After talking with my Mom, she called her first and got the information. Then, I called the lady from the Church myself and asked my own questions. It felt right to call the Caregiver lady myself by then. I made the call last Wednesday after I arrived home from my work trip to El Paso. We talked for over an hour! She had an answer to every question or scenario I threw at her! She has spent the last 8 years caring a for a doctor and his wife there in my hometown- the husband past after the first 5 years and then the wife 3 years later. The wife was bed-ridden the entire last year of her life and never had a bed sore the entire time! This Caregiver has experience in caring for even the worse conditions… immobility, dementia, incontinence; you name it- she knows how to take care of it. She has all of the medical equipment in her home to help care for my Grandmother, as she needs them: hospital bed with rails, walkers, wheelchairs, etc. She was a hairdresser in her previous life- so that takes care of her hair! She will cook her favorite foods, dress her, bathe her, deal with her incontinence, take her out for walks, read to her, play her favorite music, help her answer the phone when we call, let us come visit any time, the whole 900 yards!
Today I called the son of the couple she cared for mentioned above, he told me that if was lucky enough to find this lady and get to use her care giving services, I would be the second luckiest person in the world next to him being the first. I think that statement says it ALL.
There are so many things to do in order for this transition to happen and I am frantically trying to work them over the course of the next few days. I am out of town for work again Monday to Wednesday- El Paso again. A trip to my hometown after my trip to meet this Caregiver in person seems to be the next step. And then on to tell my Grandmother will be the next step. I have a rough draft mapped out of the way it will have to have happen considering my travel schedule, Christmas and my surgery. But, we have to move quickly because it looks like the sitter I am paying to stay with her night where she lives now is going to be a permanent fixture after my Grandmother’s episode by herself one night last night. I will not expose the details but believe me- it was a filthy scene. One that could be avoided if she had that 1 on 1 care that a Caregiver can provide- like the lady I am pondering.
I will have to give notice to the place where she lives now too. I just hope that does not turn into a big ordeal based on the big deal they made over the whole sitter-hiring episode. That was all their little cup of tea anyway.
I think I have a plan. I am pretty sure I have a plan that will work. And that will work for the best… the best for my Grandmother and the best for her family. I cannot think of a better Christmas gift to give her- the gift of moving home. She will be at home in her home town, just a block from her Church, just down the road from her friends, just a few miles from her family… I just pray she grasps this opportunity with open arms. This is my prayer for this Christmas holiday season. Won’t you join me?
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Around The World In 15 Minutes
We decided to use all four days off work over the Thanksgiving holiday to go to my hometown and celebrate the holiday w/ my family, do some serious deer hunting, and spend some time one of the four days spring cleaning my Grandmother’s house. That was the plan. Or should I say at least that WAS the plan. It sounded so good when we talked about it before we left for the holiday.
I picked up my Grandmother at her apartment on my way down there since Hubby and I took separate vehicles. Just like the last time, she was far from ready to go. As a matter of fact, I found her standing in an inch or so of water in her bathroom with the top of her pants down around her thighs. She was trying to rinse out a very dirty washcloth and had some how over flowed the sink resulting in the mini-flood. After some investigation, I found wads of toilet paper stuck all around the drain in the sink and that seem to be clogging the water from going downward. After 5 or so minutes of mopping I had most of the water gone and then wound up wiping down the toilet, sink and cabinet in the meantime… the mysterious brown splotches all over the bathroom were back even after I wiped them up just a couple of weeks ago.
I then discovered another huge wet spot in the middle of her bedroom floor in front of the dresser… only a couple of inches from the last one I found… and it was wet and again smelling like urine. I was baffled over this one… she has no idea about it when asked… I manage to inspect her person… she once again needs her garments changed and clean clothes. I clean her up and start looking for her “missing” underwear. (The staff informed me on my way in that she needed more underwear since hers were all missing). I start looking through all her drawers in the cabinet… none to be found. And then I opened her cedar chest… she must have crammed every stitch of clothing in that chest that was not hanging in the closet! I am sniffing every piece of clothing I pull out of there and putting anything that looked or smelled remotely dirty into a pile and hanging up the rest in the closet. I must have found 10 pair of soiled underwear just crammed into the bottom up under everything else! It was awful. She must have been hiding them every time she messed on herself. I wound up with a big bag of laundry to wash today, get her dressed, and take off for turkey dinner at my Mom’s.
This day with my Grandmother proved to be a multitude of “trips around the world in 15 minutes” as I call them. Why do you ask? Because her mind was ALL over the place! She asked me several times before we even got to my Mom’s if I had any children. Huh?
The thing is that she tends to nod off to sleep almost every time she is sitting down and has not conversed with someone or is not moving around… and then she dozes off…and when she wake up… Bam! Her brain starts all over again… one time she jumped up and exclaimed, “This is not my house! Who are you?” to me and my Mom… Another time she was sitting in the recliner dozing and then all of a sudden she just starts crying out loud as if on cue…when I ask her what is wrong she starts rambling on about how I won’t buy her any thing or how she never gets to go any where. A few minutes later and she is back dozing and we start all over again. She asked several times about “where is that little girl?”… and we have NO clue as to who she is talking about! You ask who she is looking for and she gets angry so fast…it was such a long, burdening day for me that guiltily I just had to get her out of there towards mid-afternoon. I felt so guilty to take her back to her apartment but the many trips around her brain (the world) just about killed us that day. On top of dealing with her mind, I also hand scrubbed ten pair of soiled underwear, one pair of pants and several socks… all before we even ate Thanksgiving dinner! She ate the entire meal with her fingers again… the fork is just not comprehendible to her anymore… she seems to mumble a lot more these days… so quietly though I find myself constantly saying to her, “Huh? What did you say?”… After twenty times of asking that throughout the day, I had had enough. I left her at her apartment with all clean laundry shortly before her suppertime.
Of course, the hot topic of the night once I returned to my Mom’s was her behavior. I bounced theories and ideas off my Mom… it is always the never-ending question, “What am I going to do?” And the answer is always out of my reach…
Hubby and I got up really early the next morning to go deer hunting. I was climbing a very high stand in the pitch dark around 6:30am… I, for one, am not a fan of walking through the woods in the dark at that time in the morning… especially in unfamiliar territory. Hubby made sure I got all the way up into the very tiny, very rickety, swivel one-seater stand. I had been in the stand about 30 minutes when the phone call came in… just as dark was turning to light… that moment at dawn when the woods are really quiet… and then the buzzing of the cell phone broke the silence… the caller ID showed the assisted living center’s main number…I am thinking, “are you kidding me?”… I answer very, very quiet, “hello” and a voice on the other end tells me that my Grandmother has fallen and they think she has broken her arm… “Seriously?”… Yes, we think she needs to go to the ER…. Needless to say, I was stranded on someone’s land with no vehicle and there was no way I could get there quick enough to escort her to the ER… so I calledd my Mom, woke her up and asked her to go check it out….
Well to make a long story short, I met them at the ER just after the X-rays were taken and the Doctor tells us that she has broken her shoulder. She, of course, has no clue and does not remember that she is in pain until she moves the arm a certain way. They send us away with a sling and pain meds… and orders to call and set up an appointment with the Orthopedic Doctor the following week. We get back to the apartment and I realize that she cannot be by herself since she now has one arm only. I wound up hiring one of the ladies that works there to sit with her at night to help her dress, undress, bathe, go to the bathroom, eat, etc. In the meantime, we have managed to successfully move her into adult “pull-ups” to help with her “potty issues”… so far this has been the only thing that has worked out since that day. The sitter has discovered that the wet spots on the floor in the bedroom are from her urinating in front of the dresser in the middle of the night instead of the bathroom. She wakes up, gets out of bed, walks over to the dresser, squats and pees… isn’t that something? How do you teach an old dog a new trick? Like how to use the pull-ups instead for crying out loud! I am baffled more and more with every passing day.
On Monday, the new director of the assisted living center confronts me about hiring a sitter without using their in-house program (which would cost us double the hourly rate by the way)… I tell her it was a 4-day holiday and they would not be back for 3 days and I needed a sitter THEN. She tells me that the Owner is upset and that the sitter will have to be reprimanded… I politely reiterate my case again. After several rounds of this, she finally agrees to turn their head this time… but, no more after this one time. I am again baffled… I already have enough on me with the shoulder and incontinence issues- please just throw another burden onto me!
Then, I found out that my Grandmother’s sister has called my Mother and informed her that she will no longer be able to take her to get her weekly hair appointments since the beautician will not work on her with a broken shoulder… Huh? Turns out that her sister was just using this as an excuse to get out of her commitment to my Grandmother… Great, another issue to deal with! Another ball of fire! I call on my Father to see if he will help with getting her to the hair appointments… he steps up to the plate. The balls of fire and torture keep flying at me and keep dodging them…
I take a half day off the following Thursday to take her to the Ortho Doctor… he tells us that her shoulder is not broken after all! Relief all around…just bruised and lots of arthritis…
I pay the sitter that afternoon… whew, not a light fee… but, worth her safety…. To this day the sitter is still there… have not decided when to stop having her there as a safety net… the fear of her falling again or peeing a river in her bedroom frightens me daily into keeping the sitter… again, what AM I going to do?
I picked up my Grandmother at her apartment on my way down there since Hubby and I took separate vehicles. Just like the last time, she was far from ready to go. As a matter of fact, I found her standing in an inch or so of water in her bathroom with the top of her pants down around her thighs. She was trying to rinse out a very dirty washcloth and had some how over flowed the sink resulting in the mini-flood. After some investigation, I found wads of toilet paper stuck all around the drain in the sink and that seem to be clogging the water from going downward. After 5 or so minutes of mopping I had most of the water gone and then wound up wiping down the toilet, sink and cabinet in the meantime… the mysterious brown splotches all over the bathroom were back even after I wiped them up just a couple of weeks ago.
I then discovered another huge wet spot in the middle of her bedroom floor in front of the dresser… only a couple of inches from the last one I found… and it was wet and again smelling like urine. I was baffled over this one… she has no idea about it when asked… I manage to inspect her person… she once again needs her garments changed and clean clothes. I clean her up and start looking for her “missing” underwear. (The staff informed me on my way in that she needed more underwear since hers were all missing). I start looking through all her drawers in the cabinet… none to be found. And then I opened her cedar chest… she must have crammed every stitch of clothing in that chest that was not hanging in the closet! I am sniffing every piece of clothing I pull out of there and putting anything that looked or smelled remotely dirty into a pile and hanging up the rest in the closet. I must have found 10 pair of soiled underwear just crammed into the bottom up under everything else! It was awful. She must have been hiding them every time she messed on herself. I wound up with a big bag of laundry to wash today, get her dressed, and take off for turkey dinner at my Mom’s.
This day with my Grandmother proved to be a multitude of “trips around the world in 15 minutes” as I call them. Why do you ask? Because her mind was ALL over the place! She asked me several times before we even got to my Mom’s if I had any children. Huh?
The thing is that she tends to nod off to sleep almost every time she is sitting down and has not conversed with someone or is not moving around… and then she dozes off…and when she wake up… Bam! Her brain starts all over again… one time she jumped up and exclaimed, “This is not my house! Who are you?” to me and my Mom… Another time she was sitting in the recliner dozing and then all of a sudden she just starts crying out loud as if on cue…when I ask her what is wrong she starts rambling on about how I won’t buy her any thing or how she never gets to go any where. A few minutes later and she is back dozing and we start all over again. She asked several times about “where is that little girl?”… and we have NO clue as to who she is talking about! You ask who she is looking for and she gets angry so fast…it was such a long, burdening day for me that guiltily I just had to get her out of there towards mid-afternoon. I felt so guilty to take her back to her apartment but the many trips around her brain (the world) just about killed us that day. On top of dealing with her mind, I also hand scrubbed ten pair of soiled underwear, one pair of pants and several socks… all before we even ate Thanksgiving dinner! She ate the entire meal with her fingers again… the fork is just not comprehendible to her anymore… she seems to mumble a lot more these days… so quietly though I find myself constantly saying to her, “Huh? What did you say?”… After twenty times of asking that throughout the day, I had had enough. I left her at her apartment with all clean laundry shortly before her suppertime.
Of course, the hot topic of the night once I returned to my Mom’s was her behavior. I bounced theories and ideas off my Mom… it is always the never-ending question, “What am I going to do?” And the answer is always out of my reach…
Hubby and I got up really early the next morning to go deer hunting. I was climbing a very high stand in the pitch dark around 6:30am… I, for one, am not a fan of walking through the woods in the dark at that time in the morning… especially in unfamiliar territory. Hubby made sure I got all the way up into the very tiny, very rickety, swivel one-seater stand. I had been in the stand about 30 minutes when the phone call came in… just as dark was turning to light… that moment at dawn when the woods are really quiet… and then the buzzing of the cell phone broke the silence… the caller ID showed the assisted living center’s main number…I am thinking, “are you kidding me?”… I answer very, very quiet, “hello” and a voice on the other end tells me that my Grandmother has fallen and they think she has broken her arm… “Seriously?”… Yes, we think she needs to go to the ER…. Needless to say, I was stranded on someone’s land with no vehicle and there was no way I could get there quick enough to escort her to the ER… so I calledd my Mom, woke her up and asked her to go check it out….
Well to make a long story short, I met them at the ER just after the X-rays were taken and the Doctor tells us that she has broken her shoulder. She, of course, has no clue and does not remember that she is in pain until she moves the arm a certain way. They send us away with a sling and pain meds… and orders to call and set up an appointment with the Orthopedic Doctor the following week. We get back to the apartment and I realize that she cannot be by herself since she now has one arm only. I wound up hiring one of the ladies that works there to sit with her at night to help her dress, undress, bathe, go to the bathroom, eat, etc. In the meantime, we have managed to successfully move her into adult “pull-ups” to help with her “potty issues”… so far this has been the only thing that has worked out since that day. The sitter has discovered that the wet spots on the floor in the bedroom are from her urinating in front of the dresser in the middle of the night instead of the bathroom. She wakes up, gets out of bed, walks over to the dresser, squats and pees… isn’t that something? How do you teach an old dog a new trick? Like how to use the pull-ups instead for crying out loud! I am baffled more and more with every passing day.
On Monday, the new director of the assisted living center confronts me about hiring a sitter without using their in-house program (which would cost us double the hourly rate by the way)… I tell her it was a 4-day holiday and they would not be back for 3 days and I needed a sitter THEN. She tells me that the Owner is upset and that the sitter will have to be reprimanded… I politely reiterate my case again. After several rounds of this, she finally agrees to turn their head this time… but, no more after this one time. I am again baffled… I already have enough on me with the shoulder and incontinence issues- please just throw another burden onto me!
Then, I found out that my Grandmother’s sister has called my Mother and informed her that she will no longer be able to take her to get her weekly hair appointments since the beautician will not work on her with a broken shoulder… Huh? Turns out that her sister was just using this as an excuse to get out of her commitment to my Grandmother… Great, another issue to deal with! Another ball of fire! I call on my Father to see if he will help with getting her to the hair appointments… he steps up to the plate. The balls of fire and torture keep flying at me and keep dodging them…
I take a half day off the following Thursday to take her to the Ortho Doctor… he tells us that her shoulder is not broken after all! Relief all around…just bruised and lots of arthritis…
I pay the sitter that afternoon… whew, not a light fee… but, worth her safety…. To this day the sitter is still there… have not decided when to stop having her there as a safety net… the fear of her falling again or peeing a river in her bedroom frightens me daily into keeping the sitter… again, what AM I going to do?
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Victory is Oh So Sweet!!
THIS ONE SAYS IT ALL!
I actually met this guy at the UGA vs. Alabama tailgate earlier this season... he doesn't look so happy now!
Go Jackets Go!!!
Congrats to Dr. Andrews
Congratulations to Dr. Andrews on her new journey in Columbus! Check out the article "Andrews Selected As Muscogee County Superintendent" from the LE. We are really going to miss her...
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