I guess I better get to bed - 2023 05 31

 


"Quarter to ten, I guess I better get to bed."

"You are already in bed, Mom."

"Oh! I'm already in bed." Chuckles. "I'm only half awake."

"Night night, Mom."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Lord's Prayer - 2024 07 24

Image
  "Our Father, who art in heaven..." I woke from a deep sleep at 445 am to the sound of Mom's voice weakly reciting the Lord's Prayer from her bed. I immediately thought she was on her way to find her resting place with Grandpa and Grandma Jones. Lately she had been reporting her conversations with them to me, telling me that they, "...were happy with their lives and what they had left behind."  In the last two days Mom had suffered from difficulty breathing, a bout of bowel incontinence and a swollen knee too painful to bear weight. I had been giving her extra puffs on the inhaler, a simple diet, and elevating her sore knee.  I padded into her room and found her in some distress, in tears. I couldn't figure out exactly what the issue was, it was more like generalized grief rather than specific sadness or pain. I sat on the side of her bed and held her hands, wondering what to do. Was she at the end of her life? Do I call my siblings and tell them to get...
Read more

Thirty-three floors - 2024 09 26

Image
  On Tuesday, September 24, at 8:52 am, we made the call to our long-term care case manager and asked for Mom to be put on the emergency long-term care waitlist. It was clear to us that we could no longer manage Mom's care needs on our own. Her needs had exceeded our capacity (strength) and our capability (managing toileting needs). By 10 am we had confirmation that 24 hour care would be put in place for Mom starting that evening.  This was a relief, and also a logistical challenge. Our heritage house has flour floors - the basement, the main floor, the second floor and the attic. In 2021 we moved Mom into our basement suite and set up arrangements for a live-in caregiver. That live-in caregiver ended up being me at least 75% of the time. Gradually, over the years, I setup extra beds, work stations and art / music studios on each floor so that I I always had a place to work no matter who was staying with Mom, or if we had extra family visiting. I spent the majority of my time ...
Read more

Wear and Tear - 2024 07 29

Image
  It is hard to explain to those who have not experienced it. It doesn't need to be explained to those who have experienced it. It is high summer. Those who are unencumbered by caring for someone who cannot fend for themselves are out camping, swimming, surfing, sailing. Enjoying nature, companionship and camaraderie. Experiencing adventures that will form memories that will last a lifetime. Here we are caring for our frail elder. She is in good spirits, but her body is failing. We have been here before over the years. For every health crisis we have watched and waited, nursed, made phone calls, discussed amongst ourselves what to do. And each time, to date, our frail elder has recovered. Each time, she has recovered enough to keep going. Each time she has regained some strength, some mobility, some degree of freedom from pain. Each time, she has also lost some strength, some mobility, some freedom from pain. Each time, she has lost some capacity and capability to fend for herself....
Read more