MOM HOME

kanyonkitty · 08-17-2008, 04:35 PM

Mom HOME !!!

I was shocked when I got to her room, she was asleep, so I spoke to her to wake her up. She woke up pretty easy and was SO ALERT, I was amazed. Poor thing has a zillion staples, they come out the 21st. She was "ready" to come home. Very alert, and amazing how well she motivated, not fast mind you but able to do more than I expected.

A huge ROO to Hettie, my greyhound group founder. She drove us to Baltimore for moms surgery and today she drove me to Baltimore to bring mom home.

Moms pain seems to be very minimal, she walks a bit slow, and when I offered to assist, " I want to try to do it myself

same with getting out of her chair, let me try by myself

With this kind of attitude she will get along very well.

I had a neighbor meet me at home, so I could keep the dogs off her, her littler weiner dog, Harley would have been all over her coming in the door.
Once I had mom in recliner, and a folded up blanket over her groin, Harley was allowed to love his mommy. He will not let KD near mom, he growls and shows his teeth.

I asked her what she wanted for dinner, pizza, so DiGiorno to the rescue, 1 slice of pepperoni and a small serving of rice pudding afterwards.

I hope things continue to go as well.

Kitty

**Tweety** · 08-17-2008, 06:29 PM

I am so happy to hear the good news. It sounds like prayers are being answered

Aren't dogs amazing? Somehow Harley KNOWS what his job is!

GoodoleBob · 08-17-2008, 06:41 PM

TWO THUMBS up for your Mom Kitty. I think this will turn out very good...you wait an see....Great news!

Bob

**JohnB** · 08-17-2008, 09:24 PM

Great news Kitty!

Home is where the heart is.

You can do this. We know you can.

Take care

John

kanyonkitty · 08-19-2008, 03:29 PM

Holy Cow, it's been exactly 7 days since moms surgery and just about 30 minutes ago, that little sneaker got her self out of her recliner (that's not working right) and made her way to the bathroom. I heard the baby gate shut and thought it was Harley, got up to look and NO mom in her chair. She said she thought she called me, which if she did, I didn't hear her, but she said she needed to go potty and couldn't wait. I am totally amazed, and still no pain pills !!!! I am sorta trying to force feed

her to get her strength built back up. If staples come out thursday afternoon, I bet that will really help her mobility. That's all of the report for now. OH, I also got her into the stall shower this am, sitting on a chair that I covered with a large plastic trash bag (bag on chair, NOT on mom) , it made her feel so good.

Kitty

Poppy & Nana · 08-19-2008, 06:44 PM

Thumbs up to Mom and a pat on the back to you!

Hope all continues to go well......and you can take Mom camping before summer ends!

kanyonkitty · 08-22-2008, 06:08 PM

Yet another Mom update !!

Yesterday 8/21 mom had ALL her staples out (and let me tell you there were a LOT of them, and both drain tubes were also removed, the drains WERE very painful removing) Doc said things look well, and was still amazed that to date mom has had NO pain meds since leaving the hospital. I do have to schedule some radiation treatments for mom, but NO chemo, she could not handle chemo.

Today, mom had home health nurse come check on her, and also a home health aide which sorta gives me a break from the shower/shampoo issues for a day, at first I told them I could handle the shower/shampoo daily hygene, but they talked me into it, and I have to say, it is a welcome break. Today I also had to be away from home 7:30 am until 2:30pm. I had future(?) DIL stay with mom til noon, and then the nurses came in, so mom was only home alone for about an hour.

Then when I got home, I told mom that George and I were going to go get her a new recliner (hers stopped reclining properly), "CAN I GO ?" that was what she asked, so slowly, she walked out to the truck, and with the help of a step stool, she was able to "almost" climb into the truck on her own, we got her chair, came home and she did good getting back into the house. We had a quick dinner (mac & cheese), and I needed to meet my bus aide and go drive our bus route to determine stops times (and actually find out where the kids lived), told mom I had to go, and "Can I go?", so back out to the truck, the stool, and the climb in(a little slower this time). We were gone for about 90 minutes and she did pretty good getting out of the truck and back into the house, but she WAS TIRED. She decided to go to bed about 15 minutes ago.

Her determination to motivate is great, it is such a shame that her memory is really failing her.

And that ends this "Kitty Report"

Poppy & Nana · 08-22-2008, 06:40 PM

Kitty that is such great news.....how old is Mom? I don't think I remember seeing her age anywhere?

May she continue to be determined in her spirit....hey Labor Day is just around the corner....she maybe priming herself for the trip!

kanyonkitty · 08-22-2008, 06:48 PM

Mom will be 83 on October 3rd

Poppy & Nana · 08-23-2008, 05:45 AM

Well Happy Birthday to her early!

My Mom just celebrated her 80th birthday and thank the good Lord is still in good health, physically & mentally!

I'm also glad to hear the you took advantage of "help" from traveling nurses - being a caregiver is not an easy job....I have been there and done that - for both of Leo's parents and my Dad. I had a brother (now deceased) who did not live close to our parents.....and when Dad had "C" and was confined to bed - it was mostly Mom and me taking car of him. Leo is an only child and Leo's parents are from the "old country" and you did not have anyone but family care for you....so that responsibility fell on my shoulders - no I'm not complaining - just feeling your relief of a little help! I longed for a weekend when we had mu aunt (an aide - BUT she was family to them) come in to care for his Mom - so we could have a little "us" time! Leo's Dad went in for a "routine" brain tumor operation and never came home - he went from the hospital to the nursing home and passed away about 1 year later - he never regained his ability to walk, talk and no hand coordination to feed himself....we were at the nursing home everyday to feed him dinner and to bath him - at his Mom's request.....she wanted to make sure that he was clean and fed at least one good meal a day!

Well you take care of yourself.....a caregiver who is out of sorts - is not able to perform the duties that are needed........think Labor Day and hopefully a weekend of camping and then unfortunately school starts again for you!!!!!

kanyonkitty · 08-23-2008, 08:41 AM

Thank you Kathy. And as you said agreeing to the help of visiting nurses is a huge help. I start hauling kids on tuesday, the 26th, but have had meetings on the 21st & 22nd, and more on the 25th.

This morning mom got herself out of bed, into her bathroom and next thing I knew there she was walking into the living room.

She is I guess just relieved from so much pain, that what pain she has is tollerable. I don't know maybe her dimentia/alzheimer allows her to cope with pain more. The big issue is her memory, it is just so poor.

But, one day at a time

In addition to doing my regular bus runs, I also am a state certified trainer, so yesterday my boss says to me: OH, I need you to give me an update on when you'll be able to return to training, as I need to determine whether to spend the $$ to pay for your recertificaion. The more I think about that the madder I get. He knows I support myself, am sole care giver for mom, and how in the world does he think I could even begin to give him a date that I could resume my training. I know, it's about the $$, but let me tell you, if you could see the crap that goes on around there, paying for my recertification would be cheap for them. I'm not sure what I'll do about it.

Well, got laundry to get done, bills to pay, meds to go pick up.

AND of of this minute Sunny is STILL sitting in the yard, hope fix him man get to it soon, he had called and was hoping for yesterday

Kitty

Poppy & Nana · 08-26-2008, 07:05 PM

Just remember 'CHIN UP"

And you are right one day at a time.[/i]