Thirty-three floors - 2024 09 26

 

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 in the basement, and so my production equipment, materials and supplies tended to converge in that space. I had my personal materials, dog food and walking equipment, office infrastructure, art equipment and supplies, and musical instruments and recording equipment, as well as various shoes, boots, jackets and bags. Not to mention, the basement kitchen had become the main kitchen in the house because that was where the majority of meal preparation got done.

On this Tuesday, we were going to have a new crew of caregivers staying in Mom's suite 24/7 and I was going to need all my things moved upstairs and somewhat productive before the end of the day.

Not only that. 

We found out that Mom's room would need to be emptied of furnishings to make way for the lift apparatus to enable Mom to use the commode. Holly and I boxed up Mom's bookshelves, swept and mopped the floor, and re-positioned Mom's bed to prepare for the equipment install.

Once we had Mom settled in her room, I started moving my possessions upstairs. That is why I recorded walking up and down thirty-three flights of stairs on this day. I had to get all my things out of the basement and distributed in rough order on the main floor, second floor and up into the attic.

As of now, I have managed to put most of my personal materials away, but my office, art and music equipment, materials and supplies, awaiting sorting and organizing. 

There are still several shelves of miscellaneous materials, equipment and supplies in the basement waiting to be moved. Hopefully I will get it shifted out tomorrow when Knoll gets here. 

This is part of the work of family caregiving. We make room, we make a space, we hold a bed. We figure out where to put things that don't belong where they are anymore and move things into a better location to reduce friction or fill a gap in home-based family caregiving operations.