MOM CAN HEAR!!!!!! YEA!!!!!!!!

Have been so busy lately, just no time to keep this blog updated. But in this case that is a very good thing.

Mom has been doing real well. She goes to coffee most mornings, gets her hair done weekly, gets to Mass most Fridays and gets to boss me around every Tuesday and Thursday for about 8 hours each day!!! She does it in very goo humor, so it is no problem for me.

She is eating much better and usually drinking plenty of water. I can tell when she has not as she becomes cranky and overtired. So I gently remind her that she needs to be drinking, and she usually complies readily. On the days that she doesn't I just let her be, as she usually picks it right up the next day.

I call her early each morning, just to gauge her spirits. So far I have not had to be concerned about her spending the day without family. On the weekends when she will be alone I try to arrange for someone to spend some time with her on one of the days.

She has been keeping me very busy getting things done around her apt. I have been up on a ladder vacuuming out vents, getting down things for her to go through and sorting through lots of stuff. - I know Dad does not like the word stuff, but it fits the need of what I have been going through.

This past week Mom started going back to chorus rehearsals on Monday nights. It took me 2 days to get her music all organized and in order for the upcoming concert season. She wanted a new blouse, which I was able to find, now just need to alter it. She is so short these days!! And I am on my way downward having already lost 2 inches in height!!

We have had lunch with Angie the last 2 Fridays, last week with Lee and this week with Pam. Pam told me that Angie really misses seeing my mom regularly - I did not know that after Dad died Mom had been going to see Angie every day after volunteering. She thought that she would see her more often after moving in there.

When I reminded Mom that she had visited with Angie regularly, she remembered it and decided to call her to get together. You see, Angie had tried to go to Mom's, but got lost trying to find the apt, and never tried again, nor even mentioned it to Mom. And Mom probably thought Angie didn't want to visit. So Mom is going to call her and go down to her place and when I am there next i will make a map for Angie and show her how to get up to Mom's.

So about the hearing aids. She can hear so well that every little noise is annoying her. Her ears are very itching, but other than telling me she hates them the moment I arrived she did a great job of coping until last night, when she took them out before I left.

She will definitely need to get used to them. She has 2 weeks to see if she likes them. They are much bigger than she expected. They are the in ear type, not the behind the ear. The color is close to her skin color, ,so although they are definitely noticeable, they do not shout out - LOOK AT ME!!!

So she ended up spending the day telling me to stop shouting at her! SO it became interesting when she was practicing putting them in and taking them out last night as I was having trouble remembering if I was able to talk in a normal voice or if I had to be speaking louder so she could hear me. We ended up in a laughing fit as we were both having trouble remembering!!

Peter told me that they are much bigger than she expected. If she were to go with smaller ones, they would more than likely be too hard for her to get in and out. As it is, she has a little trouble manipulating them because of her arthritis.

So for those of you out there, when you call, it probably would be a good idea to ask her if she has them in, so you can talk more normally with her. The pamphlet suggest lots of patience and encouragement,. Let her complain if she needs to. It will be a process of her figuring out how loud to have them set, to get the most comfortable listening volume, but that is not going to be worked on until I am there on Tuesday. For now, she is mostly alone in her apt so she is just needing to get used to how they feel to become accustomed to them.

What a pleasure to be there and have the tv on a normal volume, instead of blasting me right out of my mind!!! She has noticed the difference and we talked about how hard it has been for others not knowing if she could even hear what was being said to her. She admitted to me that she really hadn't been hearing much of anything that was being said to her. I knew this early on as she had told me, but it was good to know that she realizes how difficult it has been for those around her.

So Mom is going through all of her belongings, cleaning out drawers and closets. She wants to have it all done before she dies. What a wonderful gift she is giving to all of us who will be having to clear out her place eventually.

She is in no hurry to leave this planet. She so wants to be around to see what kind of adults the younger grandchildren and great grandchildren become. She has been enjoying looking a photos and reminiscing.

We are packing up the things we know will be wanted by family members and labeling boxes. At this stage she just wants to leave it all for us to bicker over when she is gone. I would suggest if there is anything of special meaning to you that you let me know. I am willing to keep a list and if there are more than 1 who want an item it can be dealt with later on. There is not that much, but it will be kept as per her wishes.

She is getting rid of a lot of stuff that she knows is not sentimental. Now there are a lot of small picture frames that if no one wants them she will be donating them to Fuller's annual yard type sale.

Gotta get ready to head out for the day. Will definitely keep you posted on any changes with Mom. If I do not post it is because things are going fine.

Love to all............ Enjoy this fall weekend!!

October 14, 2009

Mom is on an even keel these days. She goes down for coffee almost daily, goes to mass every Friday, is getting her hair done almost weekly, and doing things around the house.

She is even talking about getting back into the chorus. She is getting ready for her hearing aids, really looking forward to being able to hear again. Her hearing is up and down these days, seems to tie in to her allergies. And she is getting quite feisty. So we know she is feeling much better!!

I have not had time to do the calendar, have been down with bronchitis/asthma.

Derek is arriving next week for a long overdue visit.

Mia and I went over fro dinner Monday - Mom so loves scrabble - not my favorite, but I do seem to have good luck with it some days. She also really enjoys triominos - which is a three sided domino game that is shorter than Scrabble, for those of you not wanting to be stuck at the scrabble board forever!!!

There are also 2 new decks of cards - She does remember rummy.

Katimay is tugging at my arm - Need to sign off!!

Very busy here

Mom has been doing well lately - Just too busy to get to the blog. Sorry. Have had a cold, Paula has pneumonia, trying to finally get my taxes done and also am involved in a pretty intense course that I have gotten involved with for 12 weeks.

Will get caught up with more details.

Mom had checkin with her primary care doctor (PCP) and all is well - She got flu shot and found out that her Thyroid levels are improving. Going back in 8 weeks.

Ears are now clear, ready to get hearing aid - not as large a one as initially anticipated, getting carotid ultrasound next week, appt with Neurologist being made, then eye doctor.

Mom has been getting down to coffee regularly, Mass every Friday and even now getting her hair done and going for walks outside on her own, and without cane.

More later.

Katimay ,Tuesday, 9-29

Tuesday Katelyn and I went over to Mom's. Katimay had been looking forward to swimming there over the summer and it just didn't happen, so she was very excited to finally get into Great Grammie's pool!

Mom came down with us and enjoyed watching her have so much fun. It's a great pool and has a large area that is 3' deep. The deep end is just 5' - so it's great for kids. they have family swimming from 3 to 7,on M-F and 10- 2 on Saturdays, so keep it in mind when you are going for a visit.

I've noticed that as the day wears on Mom's hearing gets worse. The last time I had Katimay with me we were there for lunch and Mom was able to carry on a great conversation with her - Of course, I had to interpret a lot of her words as Katimay has some speech issues. This time Mom had trouble from the get go, but that didn't stop my Katimay!!! While clearing the table after supper Katimay was trying to get Mom to show her where the trash was, and was asking very nicely Where's the trash? - which sounded like ____________ da _________
Totally incomprehensible unless you live with Katimay!!

Then out of frustration she was asking Great Grammie where's the rubbish, again totally in her jargon, so Mom was clueless. She showed her the rumpled napkin to see if she could get an idea of what she was saying - no luck. So rather than just give up, Katimay went in to the tv room and threw it in the waste basket in there!!! LOL!! Mom got quite a laugh out of it after I explained what it was Katimay had been saying!!

Holly was in yesterday - She is the bayada aide. On Tuesday Mom had decided to let her do the laundry and strip her bed. Now that is an accomplishment as she had previously refused to even consider having her do it. I think she is realizing that by not doing it herself it will give her more energy to have for things she would rather be doing.

Peter, Ruth and I have had conversations about Mom's episodes of dizziness and have come up with a plan to let Mom make the decision ahead of time as to how she wants to handle them. I will be discussing it with her on our visit tomorrow.

Google Five Wishes, if you have any interest in end of life issues. Larraine used this for her folks, and I recently got some copies for John and Me. It is more comprehensive than just the standard living will, and gives you all the things you need to be thinking about in this regard.

Tomorrow Jean is meeting us at Mom's for lunch in their restaurant. This was Mom's idea. It is great that she is thinking about people she wants to be seeing. She is trying to work out a visit with Connie Corson also.

As Ruth won't be down this weekend I will be heading over on Saturday - I am driving a group of kids to Boston for a day trip and will spend the day with mom while waiting to pick them up at the end of the day.

I brought a step ladder over on Tuesday and used it to check out all her high cabinets. As we had found bugs in one of the lower ones, I wanted to be sure there weren't any overhead, which there weren't, Thank you God! We are moving things she does not use at all up into these cabinets and reorganizing the others. She has been doing some of the drawers on her own, and I can tell she has great self satisfaction that she is again able to do things around the house herself.

With Katimay with us we did not get to play any games, so I expect a marathon between Friday and Saturday, You know how feisty she can be!

If anyone other than Ruth and Sarah has anything at Mom's that you want, please let me know so that I can be aware of it as we go through this process.