“When are you getting rid of the dogs?” Mom asked the other day. I looked at her askance. “In about ten years,” I said. “They are taking up too much of your time,” she said. I admit, they do. I have four dogs rescued from the side of the road or from friends or neighbors […]
Who knew there was a difference between Medicare A and B? Yesterday I took Mom to hear the wonderful Dan Phillips do a presentation on his @PhoenixCommotion. He builds fantastic houses here in Huntsville out of left-overs and remainders and trash. I thought she would enjoy it. I sat her right up front. She never […]
One thing for sure, our elderly parents don’t forget distant memories. They may not know what they ate this morning, but they can remember vivid details about some occurrence long ago. And although she wasn’t part of the memory, Mom wants something done about it. I spoke to the residents @CarriageInn for my monthly presentation […]
Mom never encouraged cuddling. Daddy did, but Mom, very rarely. So, other than a hug or a peck on the cheek, touching her is hard for me, especially for something as intimate as bathing. As I arrived at her Resident Facility yesterday morning, I passed one of the Caregivers who had the day off. She […]
It’s all about balance. Recently, as Robots and competitions to produce a good one become more popular, I’ve seen clips of two-legged robots struggling to walk. Inevitably, they fall over in spectacular falls. They try to lift a foot to step up onto a platform. Slowly, they begin to tilt backward, their weight shifting, and […]
For almost all of her 98 years, my mother has kept a journal. Yesterday I saw her first attempt since she has been at the Residential Facility. It was an almost illegible scrawl in red ink. A confused rambling asking for her distant husband, Al. A garbled sentence of certainty that she was there to […]
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to have lunch with a dear friend and colleague. Like me, she too has a 98 year-old mother. She cares for her mother at their home and has given up her entire life to caregiving. We spent lunch comparing notes on our parent. It is a challenge no matter […]
Like that old song said, it’s slip-sliding away. The mind is certainly a strange and wondrous thing. But for Mom, her mind is slowly becoming a sieve that leaks facts and knowledge and the ability to function. For me, dealing with her daily has become a puzzling conundrum. What is confusing to me is that […]
The problem is healing. The smallest cut or scrape can open a wound that will take weeks to heal. I’m no doctor. At least not that kind of doctor. I don’t know whether to leave the wound open to dry out or cover it with anti-bacterial ointment and a bandaid. If the Retirement community had […]
I am back from my wanderings and my 98 year-old mother has not wandered off with her husband, Al, much as she might like to. He is still in Virginia and will not return until October if then. Or so he told my sister. There is little doubt now that Mom has reached the point […]