Another Week Down

Hey everyone. 

Well, another week down.  I guess to say we all have good days and bad days is a good description of life right now. 

So here is a run down since the last update, probably not in order because today I feel a little discombobulated myself. 

The highlight of the week was Andy, Cara and girls coming and having dinner with Grandma.  Thank you so much for coming so I could run to Flagstaff stress free!  And as I was getting ready to go, Tod showed up and was able to go too!  Which was extra special time together as we don’t see each other as much these days!  The meatloaf dinner they brought was great (we loved the leftovers) and a favorite for GIGI. I couldn’t believe how much she ate last night! She says it is for energy so she can play Rummikub.    

And speaking of Rummikub, she has kept Tod and I up Friday and Saturday night playing until 11pm!  And is doing quite well, winning quite often!  She keeps saying “I don’t have to work tomorrow” - hahah

Hannah came one night!  I don’t see her as much either at the moment, so we planned a pizza night, Rummikub, pool night and watched and episode of Emily in Paris.  Teeing her up for her next adventure in less than 20 days. UGH! I am sure going to miss her! Grandma seems to love having conversations with her about it so that is nice. 

Now, a little update on her health.  I was unhappy with the care her nurse was providing and had a conversation with her previous DR who agreed with how I was feeling and my concern. It wasn’t convenient at the time to change providers, so I had a conversation with the managing director of the current company, and they sent a new nurse. We will see how this goes.

She woke up with a rather large painful lump next to her ear.  Because Grandma has been smacking her lips it appeared she was having problems producing saliva so the thought is that she has a gland clogged.  The solution was to have her suck on lemon drops to help produce saliva and get that draining, which obviously wasn’t a problem for her and her sweet tooth.  However, the ones I ordered were rather large, so it is a bit annoying to her for the first 10 mins – which she reminds me about after every time I remind her to pop one in her mouth.  It apparently isn’t as painful today, and I do think it isn’t as big, but I wish it was working a little faster.  I will call tomorrow to touch base with her care team about it. 

The new nurse is shocked at how much she eats so I think that is a good sign! 

She woke up on the wrong side of the bed a couple times this week…One morning she continued to say “I just don’t know, I just don’t know” shaking her head but couldn’t really describe what she was trying to get at.  She has a prescription for anxiety and stress for “as needed” and it seemed like that was a good time to try it out.  I came back from work later that day and she was in the happiest mood. She and Susan had exercised, went for a walk and she was laughing and joking!  I couldn’t believe how different she was.  Susan said it took a little bit for her to snap out of the situation in the morning but boy when she did, watch out world!  And then yesterday morning, she came around the corner after waking up and I swear I could hear her growling.  The cranky look on her face sent me straight to the cabinet and I offered her one of the pills and she said “Is this the stress pill” and I told her yes and she grabbed it and popped it her mouth faster than I could say “would you like one”.

So here is a funny story.  Mark called last night on the portal.  Grandma was away from her chair working on her puzzle.  When she heard it ring, she yelled out “hello, hello”.  I jumped up to answer it telling her it was Mark on the phone.  She said “ok” and started doing her puzzle more.  “Grandma, Mark is on the portal” and it registered so she started to get up fast.  “Grandma, take your time” and Mark said, “Take your time mom, I got all night”.  I lead her to her chair.  She sat down, her back to the portal and picked up her recliner remote and held it to her ear and said “hello”.  Mark was trying to get her attention.  She is saying she can’t hear him well, I try to redirect and let her know she is talking into her chair.  I finally got her focus and she then looked for her phone.  “no grandma, look right here, Mark is on the portal”  It looked like a scene out of some old Steve Martin comedy or something.  She keeps me on my toes that is for sure. 

I am going to wrap this up.  Her helper Susan called out yesterday, so that threw my weekend off a bit.  She is a little annoyed because after I got her breakfast, I ran home for a couple hours to attempt to catch up, letting her know that her helper would be here at 2pm but I would be back to do lunch.  This is where writing it all down for her helps because she didn’t remember any of that and went to the front door several times looking for the helper. 

Oh, before I forget, she got her hair done Friday, had friends over for cards on Thursday and this coming Monday, will have a visit from a therapy dog – I haven’t told her that yet.  So it was a busy week, but not busy enough for her to tell me she was bored yesterday.  I asked her what she did at her apartment during the day and she said “sleep” so I am not going to take her complaining about being bored or having a terrible life personal!  Sometimes it’s hard not to but that’s what wine is for! 

Proof of life that all her stuff still exists and is packed up in mom and dads garage waiting for mom to get her to work through it with her.