by BirdbyBird » Thu Jul 23, 2009 8:30 am
Haven't been sitting around the campfire much lately or reading the travel stories! My step-mother is/or was readmitted to hospital. She had fallen and broken her shoulder (same as the recent jet ski accident...) But what sent her back in was her kidneys. The just were not doing an better. She has kidney failure and had started dialysis, but still hasn't accepted that this (3 x/wk) will probably be for the rest of her years. She has C-diff infection that depresses her already non existent appetite and gives her loose unpredictable runs..... The isn't much extra weight on her for a reserve. Over the weekend, at my strong recommendation< her daughter flew in from NYC. Libby was helpful but for living 63 years she hasn't absorbed to much real life health and illness issues. I think she has a vision of her mother bouncing back and I kept trying to be kind but let her know that her mother overall has been getting weaker and weaker before these last incidents and there is very little bounce anywhere! Oh well, at least she found a flight in and was able to see her. BTW - the last minute round trip flight through Expedia from NYC to CIncinnati and back was less than $150. counting taxes. Of coursee the plane left at 6 am and I don't think Libby even went to bed by the time she finished up what she needed to Friday nite, packed aadn got to the airport early enough! Anyway, step -mother was transfered to a nursing home for rehab yesterday. B/c she would not accept a room mate at her first choice facility until a private room became available she picked another spot. The admission director called me last nite and said that she would have a room available today.... Long story involving a confused person (not me) but I am now trying to arrange to have her moved to her preferred facility. She said the staff at the one she is currently in don't pay any attention to her. (You know this is going to be a long recovery for her.....) I keep making notes that when the day comes I need to try to balance patience with assertiveness in some magic way. The over view of all this is that she has been very controlling of what she wants and has tried to distance family from herself...b/c she doesn't want us in her business, but at the moment she isn't able to concentrate, remember or think through issues. So I walk very carefully, remind her of what is when I need to, tick her off for reminding her...... My father was just the opposite, when he would get sick or that whole last year. He was still able to give us his wishes, often when asked, but his most frequent statement was, "Tina can take care of that, I don't want to worry about those things anymore....)
So, the campfire looks good this morning and I brought my own diet cola, to early for the wine stash.
A positive from all these adventure is that I met a fabulous woman from the senior independent living facility. She had ridden in the squad to the ER with my mother the evening she broke her shoulder. I told her I want her along on any future ER trips. She made the entire procedure more bearable and though my mother said that the morphine wasn't helping with the pain, we both noted that she didn't start singing the broadway tunes until after the morphine had been in her system a little while.....
Keep the fires and adventures going.
Tina and the furry companions...Lark, Audrey and Jane