Well it looks like I can only get to post once every month or so. I will try to do better, but no promises. Lots has happened since my last post. The drama continues with our moms. Amy's mom is in a very nice Assisted Living Community in Birmingham. They have interesting activities almost everyday. GoGo chooses to not participate in these, but we hope that will change with time. We are changing her name from GoGo (which she got by always being on the go) to SitSit, because that is all she chooses to do now. She was always so active and interacting with others, but chooses to sit in her room most of the day, waiting on God to call her home. She still has lots of friends come to visit her. She tends to fall a lot because she will not ask for help. It may be that she is not aware that she needs help, but that is something I would have learned after the first fall. She wears a button that she can push anytime she needs assistance, but will not push the button. It may be that due to the tia's or mini-strokes that she has had she may not remember that she has a button to push.
My mom had been out of rehab for a couple of weeks, then decided to finish her sleep study to be fitted with her CPAP machine. She was diagnosed with sleep apnea back in December, before her first trip to the hospital. So she was at the hospital and about 4:00 am her blood pressure when over 200. The nurse recommended that she go immediately to the ER, thinking she was going to have a stroke. So when I went to pick her up at 5:00 I find her in the Emergency Room due to high blood pressure. They decide to keep her for a couple of days, to get her blood pressure down. Instead of increasing her bp meds, they changed them. Her heart doctor has a daily monitor of her blood pressure and is aware that it gets over 200 before taking her medicine. I believe that he is really more concerned with the bottom number than the top. She has diastolic heart failure. Hopefully the doctor will hit on the right meds for her. Anyway she is still having home health, and still on oxygen 24/7 and her lung doctor says she will not be able to come off the O2. She was doing really well and had progressed to the point that home health was going to release her. She was able to stay by herself at night. I would leave her house about the time she headed to bed. All was good.
On Sunday before Memorial Day, Amy's sister, Ginger, brought GoGo to mom's house for lunch. We had a couple of their friends over and had a good time. The all enjoyed visiting together and it was a good day. Monday, that all changed. Mom fell and knocked a hole in her head. After a time she was able to push her Life Alert button and they sent an ambulance to take her to the hospital. Life Alert worked exactly like it was suppose to and it is worth every penny it costs. After 7 staples to close the wound and multiple x-rays, the ER doctor sent her home. I basically moved back to mom's house. This fall really set mom back. She has lost any confidence that she had built up. She has trouble getting up and is continually thinking she is going to fall again. She is back on physical therapy and occupational therapy through home health. It seems that they are starting all over again to try to get her back to where she was before the fall. She now has sitters that will stay with her so she will not be by herself. She has a long way to go before she can stay by herself again. The sitters have also given me some relief.
This week Amy and I are visiting grandchildren in Virginia, and having a great time. Mom is taken care of so I was able to make this trip. We plan to be home for a week and then go visit another grandchild in Texas. It looks like June is the traveling month for us. We just wish the grandchildren lived a little closer to us. 700 miles in one direction and then 900 miles in the other direction, just to visit all three. Sure makes for a lot of riding. But, it is worth it after all.
Another topic, my garden. I was able to get a few turnip greens before the bugs got to them and before it got hot. I will plant them again in the fall. Everything else is growing good. We have had a lot of rain, so the grass is taller than some of the plants. It seems every year something prevents me from being able to work it like I should. Last year, my knee surgery, this year mom, the year before that I was just feeding the deer and turkeys.
I am almost ready to hike again, especially if mom will keep the sitters. I will take it day by day and see how it all works out.
The drama continues......
