In the middle of the sandwich...
I enjoyed tending little Emmy whilst Chad and Erica got a fun get-away...and now I go tonight to tend my mom while she HOPEFULLY sleeps. We had our family meeting with my siblings this week. It was decided that we would continue going over to spend the night (every other night she is still up MOST of the night). Garth, Kathy and Keith said they want no part of tending her...it's just too tough and it takes 2 days to recover every time they do it. Garth and Keith are needing to function each day to bring money in. Understandable.
The day of Gordons wedding, they (dad, Anne and Keith-I was home tending mom) were discussing the problems of staying up with mom and Keith told dad that he had a client that pays $10.00 per hour to have some CNA type person come in and stay with his mom at night...and suggested that dad do that. Dad said it was a good idea. Anne then said, "well, If you're going to do that, then family should get first dibs on taking the job. Mom would rather have people she loves and trusts taking care of her anyway. So, that is the way that it works now. Anne is taking 3 nights, I am taking 2, Sarah Haslem is taking 1 and Keith and Syd decided they would take one on the weekend together (so as not to be too big of a hit for either of them). So that is the plan. We are still trying to find something that will help her to sleep on the in-between nights. If we can find something that works, we could all go back to sleeping in our own homes and it would cost dad a lot less money. That is my goal...but it may never happen until she is gone.
We had mom re-evaluated this week for hospice. She is on the program now. The reason for allowing it this time I believe is that she has been diagnosed with congestive heart failure (which can take years...) and she has had 3 pretty recent falls that she could not get up by herself from. So she is on. That means a nurse will come for a visit once a week, and a personal care technician will be coming in 2 times a week to help with her showers. They have other services that we don't feel are necessary at this time.
I went over for the evaluation, as the last time I didn't know anything about it until it was over...and she wasn't accepted. It is good that I went because once again, mom was acting like this total stranger that she had never met was her long lost buddy, Laughing and carrying on so that it was impossible for dad to even hear what the evaluator was saying. So he couldn't answer her questions, so I did. And with the information I shared she was able to get admitted onto the program.
It was a good thing that Kim was here to get Emmy to bed, as I had to be gone both nights that she was here. Emmy was such a cute little bug scooting around our house! Kim and I both had moments as we watched her, that we thought we were watching our little Christa bug at that age. Weird. I was taking Emmy outside when I thought that I should bring my canning kettle (peaches) outside to cool ( I canned while she was down for her nap). I didn't want to put her on the cement as I knew she would scrape her knees crawling, so I chose to set her in the grass. She didn't like that at all! When I came back to pick her up she was protesting vehemently and had her heels raised out of the grass (sitting on her tush). Reminded me of Kiera trying to keep her feet out of the snow! Cute little ones! Emmy lost her appetite while the parental units were gone...I had a devil of a time trying to get her to eat! I thought MY KIDS were a CHALLENGE! When the kids got home, they ate dinner with us (well, me-Kim was putting in a 12 hour day at Novell). Emmy would NOT take her eyes off of Erica! It was like she was thinking, "if I keep watching her, she can't get away again!" She was tired, and needed another nap, but the kids knew that it would be traumatizing for her to watch her parents walk out of the room again so soon after returning...so she stayed up. We had some good time, Emmy and I....good bonding time!!
The day of Gordons wedding, they (dad, Anne and Keith-I was home tending mom) were discussing the problems of staying up with mom and Keith told dad that he had a client that pays $10.00 per hour to have some CNA type person come in and stay with his mom at night...and suggested that dad do that. Dad said it was a good idea. Anne then said, "well, If you're going to do that, then family should get first dibs on taking the job. Mom would rather have people she loves and trusts taking care of her anyway. So, that is the way that it works now. Anne is taking 3 nights, I am taking 2, Sarah Haslem is taking 1 and Keith and Syd decided they would take one on the weekend together (so as not to be too big of a hit for either of them). So that is the plan. We are still trying to find something that will help her to sleep on the in-between nights. If we can find something that works, we could all go back to sleeping in our own homes and it would cost dad a lot less money. That is my goal...but it may never happen until she is gone.
We had mom re-evaluated this week for hospice. She is on the program now. The reason for allowing it this time I believe is that she has been diagnosed with congestive heart failure (which can take years...) and she has had 3 pretty recent falls that she could not get up by herself from. So she is on. That means a nurse will come for a visit once a week, and a personal care technician will be coming in 2 times a week to help with her showers. They have other services that we don't feel are necessary at this time.
I went over for the evaluation, as the last time I didn't know anything about it until it was over...and she wasn't accepted. It is good that I went because once again, mom was acting like this total stranger that she had never met was her long lost buddy, Laughing and carrying on so that it was impossible for dad to even hear what the evaluator was saying. So he couldn't answer her questions, so I did. And with the information I shared she was able to get admitted onto the program.
It was a good thing that Kim was here to get Emmy to bed, as I had to be gone both nights that she was here. Emmy was such a cute little bug scooting around our house! Kim and I both had moments as we watched her, that we thought we were watching our little Christa bug at that age. Weird. I was taking Emmy outside when I thought that I should bring my canning kettle (peaches) outside to cool ( I canned while she was down for her nap). I didn't want to put her on the cement as I knew she would scrape her knees crawling, so I chose to set her in the grass. She didn't like that at all! When I came back to pick her up she was protesting vehemently and had her heels raised out of the grass (sitting on her tush). Reminded me of Kiera trying to keep her feet out of the snow! Cute little ones! Emmy lost her appetite while the parental units were gone...I had a devil of a time trying to get her to eat! I thought MY KIDS were a CHALLENGE! When the kids got home, they ate dinner with us (well, me-Kim was putting in a 12 hour day at Novell). Emmy would NOT take her eyes off of Erica! It was like she was thinking, "if I keep watching her, she can't get away again!" She was tired, and needed another nap, but the kids knew that it would be traumatizing for her to watch her parents walk out of the room again so soon after returning...so she stayed up. We had some good time, Emmy and I....good bonding time!!
Comments
What a pain. I'm glad she is on hospice. I really hope you guys get a good nurse-- it will make all of the difference in the world. But in order for her/him to be utilized well, they need good reports of changes and problems not just "we're doing fine" from grandpa