White Christmas

I was not going to post again till New Years but Mom is napping and my son is with friends. So here I am all alone . Just me and my computer. Anyway we had a very pretty snow fall Christmas Eve. Which made for a White Christmas. Can't beat that.


Mom has been eating Maple and Brown Sugar oatmeal for breakfast and supper the last week or so. With yogurt , applesauce , juice and milkshakes for lunch and snacks. Anything else I try to feed her like soup or eggs she just says no or stops eating. I ask the nurse if I could feed her just oatmeal as her main dish and she said yes. I made her egg drop soup last night but that was a waste of time. She took a few bits of candied Yams Christmas . My soup and Potato flakes aren't going over to well anymore. Bummer . I thought I had it all figured out.


When I get a chance I will get some canned fruit and puree for her. That way she will have something besides applesauce all the time. We tried puree veg. before. Oh ! what a mess . Back out of the mouth they came. I think if we put sugar in everything maybe she would eat it. Never know . Might try that someday. Not really. Tomato soup with sugar sounds nasty.


Earlier today I went to Wal-mart and got some clearance wrapping paper. Hopefully next week I can go back and get more for even cheaper. The candles were half price so had to get some candles. Time to go bug mom. Have a Happy and safe New Year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Christmas and New Year. We are staying home and might get a few snow flurries. I know many of my blogger friends are getting hit hard with snow. Be safe and send some our way.
Mom is in bed and my sister is watching TV. My son is out with is girlfriend. All is good. See you all next year.

Craigslists

I put mom's wheelchair van on Craiglist. I have to say it was a life saver. But now it just sets out side looking lonely. Many times the last few yrs. I have gotten bored and loaded mom up for a trip to the Sonic . The fireworks on the 4Th. , Christmas parade "last year not this year". And before she started yelling "A very bad" word with every bump her wheel chair hit we went to the mall a lot. Not to mention all the Doc. appointment's it took us to. But the last few things we did was stay in the van things. No more . Those times are gone. And we can use the money. I hope it sells fast and goes to a good home. Good bye old friend. :(

Long Hair Or Short Hair That Is The Question

As long as I can remember mom always had a curly perm. Than when in the early stages of Alz's. she started refusing to even get it cut. It got very long. When I took over washing it for her I ask her if I could trim it to make it easier to wash . She said yes. Big mistake because she forgot that she told me I could .Now she does not care. And I have been keeping it trimmed for years. But it is time for a trim and the aid washes her hair now. So should I cut it so it will be easy for the aid or let it grow because that is the way mom wanted it in her later years? I will most likely trim it for the aid. But I still fell bad about the first time I did it. Mom kind of acted more lost after I cut her hair the first time. Like I took a memory that she could not get back. My advice for everyone is if your love one will notice a change you want to make don't do it. Wait till they won't notice .

If you notice my hair is a lot longer way back when and Moms was a lot shorter. Times sure change. :) I think this is from the 70's.

I'm Glad Your Back

In the early stages of moms disease after she started not caring about her chores. I would sit her in front of me and give her a towel to fold while I folded the rest of the cloths. She would play with it for awhile than give it back to me. Now she just holds it or drops it on the floor. And while I am doing dishes I sit her beside the dishwasher while I unload and load. Some days she sits without a word. Other times she is napping or being grumpy. Today she would talk awhile and sit silent awhile. I went out to the laundry room to take some cloths out of the dryer and hang some up leaving her in the kitchen alone for a little bit. When I came back she very loudly said . I'm Glad Your Back! That was nice and made me feel good. She missed me. She is paying attention.

I Am Gum

Mom said she was sad yesterday and I ask why. She sad because I am gum. I am sure she meant something else. Maybe I am sad and lonely or sad and scared.Or maybe she was sad because she did not know were she was. But it came out gum. Anyway we had a conversation which is good. Even if it does not make sense to anyone but mom.

Coconut oil

I finally found some coconut oil soft gels on-line . 120 for around $14 after shipping and handling. Than I found some at Wal-mart for $10 after I already ordered the others . They are larger pills only need to take one a day according to directions and the ones online want you to take 4 . I can't remember how many were in the bottle at Wal-mart. I would say 50 maybe but still cheaper than the 4 a day.

I have to poke a hole in them and put in moms drink. It is easy but can be messy. Watch out you might get squirted. Not good for your pretty blouses and clean spot free t-shirts.

We are both taking them. I need all the help I can get.

This Bling's for You!

Leslie at Something Brilliant is Brewing gave me a wonderful new award. The Scholastic Scribe: 200: This Bling's for You!

I have to say thank you very much. Go visit her blog it is a great blog about her up hill and down hill battles with losing weight which is very close to my heart. She is doing a great job I have gotten some great ideas from her about losing and maintaining my weight.
This past week my Blogger family has graced me with writing about my blog on there blogs and giving this award. You guys really don't realize how important you are to my daily life. If only I could put it in words. Thank you , Thank you and Thank you.
Now according to miss Leslie I am suppose to pick 5 readers to pass award to , and also tell you the rules. But I am kind of lazy so if you click on my award it will take you to the link. Which was one of the rules. See Leslie I read the rules. Anyway on the link you can see all the rules and follow them if you like . I did almost all them. Really I did.
It was hard to just pick 5 Because I have 23 followers which I am so gratefully for.But I did it kind of and here they are my winners of the superior scribbler award. Congrats to all.


Dolores of moving forward with Alz's .

Rebecca of A Gathering of Thoughts

Suzy of A daily shot of life and Suzy bloomers

City girl Talks

Karen of life is good
Judi of Mom me And Alz's

Becky of Sew consult

Victoria of confessions of a new/old home owner

Cass of That old house

NV of This D*am house

Helen of Living Boldly

Gail of Mom & Me Journals

Carol of New Kid on the Blog

Oh! Did I ever tell you I can't count . :)

Thank You, Mom And Me Journals.

I just wanted to Thank Gail at themomandmejournalsdotnet. net for the wonderful post she wrote about my blog. I cannot find the words to tell her how it made me feel. So I will say Thank You again and again.

Happy Thanksgiving To All !

Hope everyone is having a great day. We had our Thanksgiving yesterday . Just mom, my son and I. He is having dinner with his girlfriend today and he had no classes yesterday so we thought lets have turkey today. Mom ate a good breakfast and she ate mashed potatoes and dressing for lunch. No forcing. She ate all her oatmeal for breakfast and more than a few bites of lunch . I think I was just stressed the first of the week. Every thing is better right now. Next week it will be something else I am sure.

Giving In

I have decided that it is time to stop making mom eat and drink and eat and drink. I think I am making her sick. If I work at it I can get a bowl of oatmeal or soup down her and a milkshake or smoothie. But it is making her sick. When hospice first came they told me not to force her to eat or drink. If she refuses it is just the illness. I thought that is awful. She will starve and get dehydrated. What are they thinking. But after this weekend I realize when I force her to eat and drink so much it makes her sick. I will try smaller portions and maybe if I can get her to wake up she will eat little bites during the day. But She sleeps most of the day. It is hard to wake her up. It is not the med. I only give her enough that she is not in pain. We had the medicine figured out were she was awake more and not a zombie. But now she sleeps without much medicine. But if I do get her to wake up she really isn't a zombie. She still tells my she hates me and shut up or NO!. That is good that is my mommy.

I Miss The Eight Legged Monster

This has been some weekend. Friday and Saturday was good. My sister stayed over Friday night. Arkansas won it's 4th game in a roll and my son was here to watch the game with me. But Sunday was another matter. Mom would not wake up to eat breakfast. Than she had an accident in which we needed to open the window to air out the house. But the worst thing is she did not fight me. She did not try to kill me with her octopus arms. If you remember in an old post she was very dangerous when trying to change her. I realized this is another change for the worse I think . It can't be good. It is not what I am used to. Than to top that off she got sick to her stomach in bed. And I had another mess to clean up. Two bed changes today three loads of laundry later I think she is going to be okay. So far so good. Hopefully it is not the flu. Her nurse comes tomorrow so I will have her check mom out good. Maybe it is just because she is sick but I have noticed that she is drawing her arms up to her and holding her wrist hard even making nail marks. This has been going on for a few weeks . So I have been giving her stuff to hold . One of my blogger friends suggested a wash cloth . Very good idea. A towel works a little better she hugs it and does not drop it so much. Stuffed animals don't work or dolls. Anyway I hope tomorrow is better. Can't believe I am saying this but I miss the monster.I don't like her showing no emotion. I like some movement and even yelling . She still does that some. I hope she does that awhile longer.

Pie For Breakfast

Is it Friday all ready? This week has flown by. I have been getting more sleep this week than in 3 years. Not sure if my body is liking it yet. Woke every morning with a headache. So far so good on mom's new mattress. I have not noticed any red spots. Thank God.

I went shopping yesterday for Thanksgiving stuff. My son's request was for Lemon Pie.Well he might go to his girlfriend's so I made his pie yesterday. This morning mom and I had a slice. She did have her oatmeal first. But enjoyed the pie more. We are going to have turkey, mashed potatoes and dressing on turkey day and a friend of mine gave me some canned green beans so I can't wait to try them. Oh! and of course we will half to have candied yams. Another of my son's favorites. Mine too.

Not homemade dressing.That was my mom's job. She also would make homemade egg noodles and let them dry on the counter. I tried that once. To much work. They tasted OK. But not like moms.

Mom will eat the mashed potatoes and that is it and maybe some pumpkin pie. I better get a pie so she will have something else soft to eat. Not homemade either. Mom made the best homemade pumpkin pie. My grandma tried to trick me once into eating sweet potatoe pie by telling me it was pumpkin. It was good but it was not pumpkin. I am also going to make the spice apple cake my blogger friend Dolores shared with me. Thank you again. It is my brothers favorite cake and this recipe is so easy. Mom also used to make that homemade. Not me. Sorry everybody. You don't realize everything your mom used to do till you start missing or needing it.

I wonder if my son will miss me when he moves out. I bet he will on laundry day.Because that is all I do for him now . He eats out or brings food home to all us and buys everything he needs. He stays away from laundry. I know he will miss me on laundry day for sure. That is good.

Spice Cake: spice cake mix,4 eggs , 1 can of apple pie filling. That's all. mix all together.
350 degrees for 40 mins. It is great with cream cheese frosting.

Mom Has A New Mattress

As you all know I talk a lot about having to turn and change mom.Well while she was at the Hospice Home she got to use a wonderful bed. It would move automatically and change the pressure off her body in different parts at different times. Oh, how I wish I had invented such a bed. Anyway after me praising this wonderful bed the nurse told me it cost around $5000.00 . And a lot of donations and fund raising went into buying such a bed. My sister told me to ask mom's home nurse if we could get one . Now you know Medicare would not pay for anything like that. I would be embarrassed to even ask for such a thing. But I did ask for a new sponge egg carton mattress the next time the nurse came to visit because mom's is getting old and dirty. You will never guess what she said. They have air mattress's that you plug in and the mattress will put air in and take it out at different times on different spots automatically. I want one ! And we got one! It is not a $5000.00 bed that by the way sets up into a chair if you want it to. But it is close enough. I still have to get up and change mom and than I turn her but it is not every two or three hours. Life is good.

And yes I called my sister and told her she was right.

Mom Missed Me

Yesterday when mom got home she was sleeping and slept most of the evening .This morning she was wide awake. When I went in to check on her and turned to leave she yelled come back here I love you. So of course I went back and gave her some loving. Than later she was yelling for me to come back . And she kept telling me to listen to her she loved me and don't leave. Needless to say I got her up early this morning. But she is getting back to normal now. She just told me to shut up when I was trying to get her to eat. Welcome Back Mom.

A Walk Around The Lake

I took mom to the Hospice Home yesterday. Well actually they came and got her. She will be there 5 days. It was lonely last night. I felt kind of useless. But today I was busy . My friend from school and I went hiking around one of our lakes. There is a hiking trial , Botanical Garden and a park. It took us around 5 hours. According to the sign at the start of the trail it is a 3 hr. walk . I guess we are slow. Anyway I loved it . And it was perfect weather. Thank goodness we took a couple bottle's of water. And the gardens had a nice bathroom. I needed the water and the bathrooms. I tried to climb the oak tree but couldn't it has a sign that says largest black oak in Arkansas. It is really big. Guess that is why I could not climb it. My son did once and sent me a picture on my phone so I wanted to send him one of me in the tree. No such luck.

After the walk my sister,neice and I went to check on mom. She was sleeping . The nurse's at the Hospice Home are very nice. They told me how good she was eating and drinking. My sister ask her if she was happy and she said yes. It's really nice there. And mom seems fine .But I will be glad when she gets home Sunday but for now I'm going to bed and sleep all night and sleep very late in the morning.

Have you noticed how many times I say the word I in my post. It is all about me,.myself and I. I guess. Sorry about that. I am not a writer.But you can tell that I bet. LOL!

Karen I Lost My Nose

While I was doing dishes this morning mom yelled " Karen I lost my nose". You did I said. And she ask me to come help. I found her nose for her. It was not to far. Right there where we left it.



She is wide awake this morning. We had her favorite and seems like every morning meal of oatmeal and a shake or smoothie. She is eating it so good I am not going to change a thing.



We ran out of Hospice supplied diapers this weekend so I had to make a run to Wal-mart. It was so hard spending the money on diapers since I am so spoiled now by Hospice. But the nurse will bring some much welcomed supplies today.



The weekend was wonderful. Arkansas won another football game. Whooo Pig Soooie!!! Go Hogs!. And my son did not go to the game so he watched it with me . One of my favorite things to do in the world is watch football with him. We also racked leaves out of the yard and off the roof. Seems like the leaves love to stay on the roof. So my son got up there and swept them off.







I am thinking about taking a week off of care giving and let mom go to the Hospice House. The nurses and social worker think I need a week off. I keep telling them I will this summer but they say you can now and this summer. What do you think? I had such a bad experience when I took her to a nursing home for 3 days. I am worried a little. But Hospice House is better than a nursing home I am told . By the Hospice Nurses anyway. There is no place I want to go if I get a week off plus the holidays are coming and I still have a turkey to buy if I decide to cook one and Christmas gifts.I can't spend any money on a vacation . So if I do take a week off . It will be just to be lazy and enjoy not having to get up every two hours at night to change and turn mom. And being able to come and go during the day will be nice. I could mall walk everyday. Sounds good to me. If the weather stays nice I might actually walk outside instead of the mall.

Brain Cells Come and Go

I found this picture on another blog. She gave me permission to use it. I thought it fit our life. Except that Mom's brain cells don't come and go they leave and never come back. But my fat cells sure do live forever.

I wonder about the teenagers and adults out there in this big world smoking pot and drinking. They lose so many brain cells every time they take a puff off that joint or get drunk. To them it is just having a good time. And they are healthy there brain is always learning and renewing it's self . But mom's just dies a little more everyday. Do you think if they could spend a day with mom or go to a home full of people with Alzheimer's if they would think twice before taking that next drink or smoking that next joint. The people living with Alz's. did not have a choice . They are handed this disease and no one ask them if they wanted it. But you have a choice say No to drugs . One day you might not be able to say No. But now you can. Just say No.

Alzheimer's Awareness Month

I am on a mission. Have you ever watched the Bonnie Hunt Show? It is great. She is always helping out cause's and raising money. But we need to get more people aware of Alz's.


5.3 million Americans are living with Alz's .Every 70 seconds someone develops Alz's. And it is the seventh leading cause of Death. But you never here this on very many talk shows. Lets spread the word. I want all my blogger friends to go to the Bonnie Hunt Show and write her a letter or any other show you like to watch. The Early Show , Ellen, Regis and Kelly,Oprah or Good Morning American. Lets get the word out. Thanks

Mom Slept Through Halloween

Arkansas won Saturday which was very good. My son went to the game with his girlfriend.Then they had friends over at her house for Halloween. Mom and I watched the game on TV. Actually mom slept in her easy chair during the game and Halloween. I woke her up to feed her .Than I had to wake her up so I could put her in bed to change her and she took a nap. Got her up to feed her supper and than she slept till bedtime in her easy chair. So I would say Saturday was a lazy day. I did mow Friday. It was not raining and very sunny. I just had to do something outside. Now the yard is ready for winter.

Sunday was about the same. My son was home most of the day and We all napped and watched TV. I did run to the store for a few things.

Mom is still eating her Oatmeal , soup, yogurt and milkshakes and smoothies good. It takes a very long time to get her to drink but she is drinking. Anything she has to chew is out of the question. If I keep shoveling down the soft stuff she keeps taking it.

The escape artist of a dog got out last night but did not get in the trash and it is trash day so there is lots of trash by the curbs. I guess I will have to chain him up again tonight.

Time to go get mom out of bed so she can go back to sleep in her easy chair. Maybe I will nap on the sofa. Sounds like a good idea to me.This could become a habit.

Don't forget November is Alz's Awareness Month

Time To Wake Up.

Mom was not ready to get up this morning. I went to bug her and I said "Mom time to get up" and she said very clear "No it is not go away". So I left her alone for a little while longer. It is rare for her to talk so clearly and confident that I wanted to obey her.

The sun is shining for the first time all week. But it is very windy. At least no rain. That is very nice.

We are doing so good with our thick drinks. It takes her forever to drink these days but at least she is not getting choked.For breakfast we had oatmeal and a wonderful blueberry smoothie that my son made. Mom ate and drank everything.



I am ready for the weekend. It seems like this week was so busy. I got to go to the mall with my sister which is I think the very first time I have ever been to the mall with my sister. Can you believe that? Lately she is watching mom while I run around but my son watched her so we could both go . And before mom got sick I guess going to the mall was not on our list of things to do together. It was fun. I hope we get to go again. She could not walk the whole mall with me. To old . Just kidding. Her feet and legs started hurting so we rested a lot. I think maybe she had on the wrong kind of shoes. Next time I will make her wear her walking shoes.
Have a Happy Halloween Everyone.

Milkshake's and Smoothie's

I have not made it to the store yet so I have not gotten any Thick-it. A lot of my blogger friend's suggested Thick-it to put in moms drinks so she won't choke. Well you guys that know me know I make do with what I got. Mom as been enjoying an array of different drinks. My son makes the best smoothies. Here is the recipe again. 1/2 cup milk, 1/2cup OJ, 6oz vanilla yogurt, one soft banana,4 ice cubes and a hand full or two of frozen fruit. I like blueberries or strawberries. He likes mixed fruit. I get big bags of frozen fruit from Sam's . They last forever.



Okay here is the weird stuff . This morning we mixed apple jc.. with applesauce. I tasted it. Not bad. Last night for supper we did warm milk and potato flakes. I had to do that twice. First time did not work. The milk was not warm enough to cook the flakes so I got some water very hot. About a 1/4 cup and than added flakes than when that cooled down and they looked like mashed potatoes I filled the rest of the cup up with milk. Yes, I tasted it . Needed salt and butter. LOL! Not my best work but mom drank it.



I also tried milk and yogurt, apple jc. and yogurt and gatorade and yogurt . Each one was very good. Like a small milkshake or smoothie. I used a whisk to mix things up good. I also found out it is hard for mom to suck this stuff up the long straw. She always stops halfway and down the straw it goes so I cut the straw in half. It worked. Hard on me to get it to the bottom of the cup but easy on mom to suck up the drink.



Today I will go shopping and look for the thicken stuff and also stock up on nutrition drinks they are good tasting and thick all ready. If I can't find the thicken stuff I will ask moms nurse if she will bring me some. I bet she will.

Changes

Mom has not changed a lot in the last few months till this last week. Her new thing now is not opening her eyes. She will go most of the day with her eyes shut. And she is choking on fluids more now than ever. The nurse was here today. She told me to start giving mom thick drinks like milkshakes more. She also told me that since mom is getting choked it will be easy for her to catch pneumonia so I guess it will be milkshakes from now on. Mom also has a runny nose and was breathing heavy last night so I have to take her temp for at least two days. If no temperature she is ok.

I made roast ,potatoes and carrots in the slow cooker Sunday. Can you believe it. Real food. Anyway mom just ate a few of the veg. no meat. I also made Chicken and Dumplings Fri. or Sat. They were so good. No, this is not going to be a habit . I just went shopping and there was a meat sell . When I run out of my cheap meat it will be back to soup.

Arkansas lost again Sat. My son was out of town so my brother came over and watched the game with me. To bad we lost the game. It would of been a really good day. He was nice and did not make me mad for a change.
I found a new Alz's blog. Lots of info. check it out.
http://lovinggrand.blogspot.com/

Animal Crackers

Bet you all can't guess what we are having for supper tonight.

Your right if you guessed animal crackers. You guys are good. We are also having yogurt and macaroni salad. I know, not to healthy. But tasty. First mom was eating the yogurt and animal crackers and I was eating the mac. salad . She ran out of yogurt and wanted more to eat so I gave her some of my mac. salad and she started eating it. So I am finishing the bag of animal crackers while she is finishing my mac. salad. Silly aren't we?

Mom does not use spoons and forks anymore but if your love ones are having trouble holding on to there's here are a couple ideas. You can buy from the Alzheimer's store very heavy utensils . They are thick and I guess that being heavy the person knows they have something in there hands. But they cost to much. Mom's PT gave us a piece of foam to slip on our own utensils . It makes them big and thick. She used it better than the one I bought for $10. So I would go that route . Not sure were to find one if you don't have a PT. You could ask Home Health Care any Aid or Nurse.

Coconut Oil and Alzheimers

I found this online . What do you all think? I might buy some and see if I like it. Couldn't hurt. Mom is to far gone I think for it to help. But what the heck. We will try it anyway.

http://coconutdiet.com/alzheimers.htm?s=yh

Potatoe Flakes

I tried something new for supper. We had cream of chicken soup and I put some instant potato flakes in mom's to make it thicker and more filling. I tasted it . Not bad. And she ate it. Tomorrow I am really going to cook. We are going to have meatloaf. Hopefully mom will eat it. She loves mystery meat so maybe she will love my meatloaf. Believe me it is a mystery. She used to eat it so we will have to see if she will now.

It is warm today. A little to warm. Actually hot inside the house. I do have some windows open.It is great outside I went out and played with my dogs. D.o.g. has been good for a week. I took him off the chain and he has not gotten out and in the neighbors trash. Lucky is our big fluffy baby . He loves to be brushed. You have to watch out because he has busted my lip more than once. He likes to jump up and give you a kiss. OUCH!

Windy Monday

My son just left for class and here I am again writing my post before I get mom up. I put that off as long as possible. Did I mention lazy is my middle name.
It is very windy out and going to be in the high 60's today. Maybe I will open a window later. Fresh air would be nice. It did not get out of the 50's Saturday and was a little warmer Sunday .

The weekend was good . We had a nice visit with moms nephew and his family. Sat. my brother took them to the crafts fair. My son, mom and I watched football . Arkansas lost to Florida but it was a very good game anyway. When they got back we ate supper and than my son stayed with mom.My brother went home and I took them site seeing and to Target. They do not have a Target near them. We also went to Walgreen's and Wal-mart. I really did take them to site see not just to shop. We drove around the Uof A campus and I showed them some very pretty and large old homes and buildings. Took them around the square than we went shopping. It was getting dark so had to go shopping.


Mom ate good but did not visit. Not sure if she knew they were here. I think she talked to them once. It is good for them to see her . No one really knows how gone she is till they see her in person. She has very few times when you can talk to her and she responds normal. She does listen alot and will just say something out of the blue that goes along with what we are talking about but most of the time the words don't make sense. I think she is trying and wants to talk to us or wants us to talk to her . It just does not come out right.
In the mornings If I give her some love and talk to her she will talk to me . And she will tell me that she is not ready to get up. I really think she knows whats going on right than. But when I start getting her up she gets all confused and upset. Then it's like that off and on most of the day.
Well it's time to get busy just another day another dollar. I wish! I could us a dollar.

Waiting For Company To Arrive.

I did all my house cleaning. Boy I am pooped. Mom is napping . I will get her up in about 35 min's. Her nephew and his wife and daughter should be here around 6pm.

I found 6 nice x-large T-shirts on the clearance rake for $1.66 at the store the other day. So mom will be all pretty in a new shirt when they get here.

I have a lasagna to put in the oven but for mom I think I will make cream of celery soup and applesauce. Might give her a bite of the lasagna but I don't think she will eat it. Oh! and I have garlic bread. You have to have garlic bread with lasagna. Anyway the question of the day is will mom know who is here to see her. Or ,will she even talk to them. I bet she will ignore them. She likes to ignore me. Used to she would tell every one how mean I was to her . I miss those days. Now she is in her own world a lot.

Yesterday my brother was talking about her and she said "I did?" So she was listening to us. That is good.

Busy Weekend Coming.

Mom is in her easy chair. Talking to someone about something. I answer her but she does not respond to me . Just keeps talking to someone in her own world.



Tomorrow is our part of the states very large arts and crafts fair. War Eagle.

http://www.beaverlake.com/wareagle/wareagle.htm

It brings in Thousands of people. We have family coming from Missouri to see mom and go to the fair. I need to vacuum , mop and clean the toilets. I really should clean the toilets more . My sister dusted yesterday. Thanks sis again.



We had veg. beef soup for supper and yogurt . So far so good on the eating. I forgot to give mom her nice medicine today before the aid came to give mom her bath and I did not realize that in till mom started yelling and screaming . And boy does mom has a potty mouth. I did not tell the aid I forgot. Maybe she did not notice . :)

Blog Action Day!

Check out this great blog she has all the info needed for blog action day.
http://thisdmnhouse.blogspot.com/
This years subject is Climate Change. I am no expert on this but I know something needs to be done to stop it.
Saving energy in your home can help by cutting down our use of natural gas and electricity so winterize your home. We put plastic on our windows, close up all our holes under the house. Caulk all cracks and around windows, put weatherstripping around doors to prevent cold from entering . Add extra insulation to the attic. And lower the thermostat. Use more covers . Wear extra cloths. Put on that extra pair of socks. Snuggle up with your mate to stay warm. That is my favorite.
http://www.blogactionday.org/

Oral Care

I was going to watch the View because the Duggar family were going to be on it. Have you seen them on Fox or USA? I can't remember want channel. They have 18 or 19 kids and pregnant again. I only watch it sometimes when nothing else is on. My son plays broom ball with them at the ice skating rink and we see them around town sometimes. They seem like a nice family. But to many kids for me. Well, I missed it so thought I would write about something new I'm trying out on mom. Moms nurse gave me some Flavored Disposable Oral Swabs. They are great. Mom even likes them once you get them in her mouth.They are so cute looks like a sucker.

We used to take moms teeth out and I would let them soak over night and mom would rinse out her mouth. The toothbrush was out of the question. But she will not do anything now. We don't even try to put the teeth in anymore. Anyway you soak the swab in water and put in her mouth. Rub all around . It smells good and must taste good because mom likes sucking on it. Which is a good way to get that tongue clean.

Rainy Friday

It is raining , and raining and raining. We had Tornado warnings all over last night but no touchdowns. Thank goodness . My son was at the movies "walk-in" not drive-in. Any way I texted him that we are under a tornado warning and the news guy said take cover now . He texted back. Cool. Silly boy. Nothing came of the storm except a lot of rain . We get so many storms here you would think that I would not get so worried. I actually love thunderstorms. I just ate those Tornado's. It is the 1 chance in a 100 that one will hit us that scares me.

Last night when I was putting mom to bed I rolled her over and she hit her head on the bed rail. I said "I'm sorry" and she said "well you better be". She is so funny. She ate a good supper. I am going to make scrambled eggs for breakfast. My sister is asleep on the sofa so I am going to go bug both her and mom. I just love waking everyone up. Heck if I have to be up so should every one else right?

Drive-in

Mom is eating spaghetti and applesauce. And she is wide awake. No nurse today and no aid so I only gave mom her pain pills and some vitamins. Her first bite she said " Oh, that is good".


And she just said "Karen I love you". Very cool. Than she said a bunch of stuff I did not understand .


Anyway I just realized summer is almost over and I have not been to the drive-in.
http://112driveintheatre.com/
Going to the drive-in was an every week-end event when I was a teenager and I took my son almost every weekend also. Mom loved to go with us. We would take an ice chest and chairs and blankets . It was great. I even bought a truck so we could sit in the back to watch the movie. You just can't beat that. I still got popcorn from the concession stand most of the time. But sometimes we would pop are own and take it too. But it just is not the same. I love popcorn and choc. I think I have wrote that in another post .Sorry.


I need to start paying attention mom was looking for her bread and it was on the floor. I need to wake up. She just said "I hate you". the love was nice while it lasted.


Tonight I will give her a nice pill so she will go to sleep but today has been good. Tomorrow is nurse and aid day and she will be in a bad mood so she will get a nice pill in the morning for sure.


I have to get off here Mom is wanting me to talk to her and she is eating. That is good. :)

Hospice & Caregiving Blog

Saturday Oct. 10 is World Hospice and Palliative Care Day. Check out this web site. And remember it doesn't have to be end of life to be on Hospice. I used to think that but they will come to your home before End of Life . Thank goodness.

http://hfahospice.blogspot.com/

Chilly Monday

It is a chilly Monday. Mom is still asleep . But I am fixing to go bug her. We had a nice weekend . My son and I watched football most of the day Saturday. Arkansas finally won a conference game which was nice. And Mom napped. She did not drink much all day. I had to put her drink in the end of the straw and put it in her mouth to get her to drink . I also have a dropper I fill with water to get her to drink at night. She has completely stopped drinking at night. When I get up to turn her I need a drink so I think she does too. But no she will not open her month. She just will not respond to anything . Sunday was better. She ate good and drank almost all her liquids. I went shopping and got her favorites and a few new things. She did not really respond to me unless I kind of yelled Mom! or Earlene!! and she would say What!.

I try to not give her to much medicine to make her nice and keep her calmed down because it makes her sleep to much. So I am trying new things. Her nurse told what and how much to give her and which to take together . I just have to figure out which combo is the best. She has pills , gel you put on her wrist and Morphine you give her in a dropper . All to make her feel good , relax, be nice and take away pain. I can't give them to her all at the same time but am trying different ones to see which works the best and still she will be awake to eat. It is a pain in the bottom but I might of figured it out because Sunday was good. But today will be different I bet. Nothing is ever the same.

Tomato Soup

I tried to get mom to share my TV dinner for lunch but no way Jose.

So I started digging around looking for something to feed her and I found 4 cans of Tomato Soup which is for my son's grilled cheese sandwich dinners. Mom has never liked tomato soup she always eats Chicken Noodle or Cream Of Chicken with her Grilled Cheese sandwich's. Anyway I made some and she ate it. I put some crackers in it and she ate half a bowl with no trouble at all . Heeaw!! Life is good.

Sunny Friday

It is nice and sunny today. Mom had a visit from my brother. He was good and so was I . LOL!
His grand-daughter is sick so he just dropped by for a second than took her to the doc. Did not want to make mom sick.
I have a TV dinner in the micowave we got from Angel Food. http://www.angelfoodministries.com/
They are pretty good and cheap. Mom and I will share . It is too much for her and I don't need to eat very much today after pigging out all day yesterday on junk food .
All I got mom to eat this morning is some yogart and a few bites of cereal. So maybe she will be hungry . When I get to the store I will buy all her favorites so she will eat better. Hopefully.
So far we are having a good day. No pity party yet. Due mostly by all your comments and emails. One blogger sent me an email which said from one friend to another plus alot of other nice things. That made my day. And all the hugs and prayers well ,can't beat that .Thanks to All of you. Have a great weekend.

Two Bags of Chips and a 2 liter of Cherry Dr Pepper

I am on my second small bag of chips and I am drinking out of a 2 liter bottle. No glass just the bottle .HELP!!! I will weigh a ton soon.

The day after my day off of caring for mom is the worst. I don't know why . Maybe because I know it will be a week till my next day or night off. My son came home for a while and gave me money to help pay bills. That made me happy than he left and went bouldering. That's a fancy word for rock climbing I guess. He does it in a Bouldering Gym. Any way I got so sad I started pigging out again. Writing this post is helping . I'm not eating just writing.

Mom has had a bad day today with eating , drinking and changing. Not enough eating and drinking and to many changes needed. I am sorry I am always talking about changing mom. My son hates it but I tell him what else am I going to talk about. This weekend I am going grocery shopping so hopefully I can get some new stuff to try to feed mom. I am out of the stuff she likes so am going to stock up on that too.

We are under a Thunderstorm watch . I love the rain and I don't mind storms. If there are no tornadoes or hail in them . We have way to much of that in these here parts. Maybe the storm will get my mine off eating and I can just worry about the weather.

Mall Walking And The Lottery

My sister came over last night after work to help care for mom. Than she stayed the day so I could go run around. If not for my sister I would be stuck in this house forever . Well I only had $1 and some change so my big day out was a trip to Sonic for something off the Dollar menu and to the Mall to Mall Walk. It is good exercise and I love it. You can walk and window shop. It is hard not to buy something in the food court . I have a bad habit of over eating so I love the food court.And that is why I need the exercise. I just try to avoid the food court and going to the mall with no money is a great way not to spend much.LOL! I was temped to use my ATM card but I did not want to take the chance of an overdraft.The last time I checked my account it was not pretty so I have been very careful to only buy what we really need.
The lottery just came to Arkansas this pass Monday. Now I have always voted no on the ballot when it came to the lottery . But I have to confess when in Missouri I do buy a ticket just for fun. And most of the time it is only once or twice a year anyway. But being in my home state scared me. What if I get hooked? Anyway I thought about using my $1 to buy a lottery ticket and maybe I would win $20 to go shopping. But if I lost I would not have enough to eat lunch at the Sonic . So I was good and did not get one. I just hope I have the will power next time to say NO. Pray for me.

I'm Over Being Mad

I'm over it now. Just having a bad morning I guess . Thanks for the comments they helped .And I read a post from http://rebecca-gatheryeroses.blogspot.com/ that got my mind off me . It is a wonderful blog and post . I just started crying. A good cry is a good thing.
Mom is napping and it is a wonderful, sunny and cool fall day. So I am over myself and moving on. Happy fall everyone.

P.S. I have to add something to this post I wrote this tues. and now it is Thurs. so it has been 2 days since my raving post about my brother so I need to say nice things about him. Lets see if I can think of any. LOL!
If I ask he will sit with mom just sit nothing else "only if I ask" , He will fix anything that gets broken around this old house which seems to be alot. And he just started not making me pay him back for stuff he needs to buy to fix things. But that is because we are broke. And I think he would even loan me money if I ask but I will never do that . God forbid. The only problem is after he does this stuff for us he wants everyone to kiss his ...... and praise him on how smart and nice he is. I really just want to smack him.

I Am Mad.

I am mad at my brother. More like pissed off. I was not mad till I started thinking about it . Over and over in my head. We were talking on the phone while the aid was in with mom .When the aid and mom came out I said OH! She looks so pretty and the aid sad yes she looks pretty in red. My brother made a noise like a growl than said I will let you go cause your busy. Than when the aid left I tried to call him back . He did not answer. No big deal but than I called again later. No answer . I started thinking. When I went on vacation 2 years ago. Which was the last time my brother helped me with my mom. He made me ask the aid from Home Health Care not to come because he did not want her here and he did not want to have to watch the way he acted or talked .Well mom never got a bath while I was gone. Not from him that is for sure. And he had his Ex-wife change her when she needed changing. I think he did get up in the night to turn her. Wasn't that nice of him. Home Health Care stopped coming shortly after that . And believe me I missed them.
He said he did not like the sweet talk and making nice. So I know when he does call me he will say you were talking like a sissy or fake to the aid. Well all I know is if she does not come and give mom a bath I will have too. No help from my brother . I will visit and talk nice to anyone who wants to help me. And I am truly thankful for the work the nurses and aids from Hospice do for us. It is not fake. Ahhh! I feel better now.

Award

Leslie at "Something Brilliant is Brewing" gave me the Honest Scrap Award. Thank you so much!! I am so proud . Go check her blog out it is great. willswimagain.blotspot.com It's on my list of blogs I love to visit.
I think I am suppose to tell you 10 things about myself . Well I am kind of boring. But here they are.

1.Christian

2.Single mom to U of A engineer student.

3. Caregiver to my mom .

4. Worked at Wal-Mart 6 yrs. Drove school bus than transit bus for around 10yrs. Had a few other silly jobs before and in between.

5.Two cats, two dogs and my son has a snake. (scary)

6. Amateur blogger.
7. Love to bake and eat . Not good.
8. Would love to make quilts out of all my moms quilts tops.There are dozens. And give them to the family for Christmas.
9. I love to go to the movies.
10. Going out to eat is one of my favorite things to do . Which is why I am on this roller coaster of gaining and loosing pounds.

That is enough about me. I am not sure how this works but I would like to award the Honest Scrap Award to all my Blogger friends. Leslie told me to copy and paste my award to my blog. So you guys can too. I hope it works. Anyway you make me smile, and you make me cry. You give me great advice and you give me something to look forward to every morning. Thank you for letting me into your hearts and homes.
Leslie, David and Sue, Dolores, Karen, Cass, Beverly, Rue, Diane, Donna Marie, Sewconsult, Rebecca,Victoria, Latane, Citygirltalks, NV, Marty, BearlySane, Diane, Lady Katherine, Happy Cottage Quiter, Happy Home, Had a Dad, Elanor,Lisa, Chari and Me, Helen, Linda, Rhonda, Krista, JeanMac,Joseph, Mary and Mom's Brain. Forgive me if I forgot someone but Thank you so much.

Can't Sleep

It is 2:41 a.m. I can't sleep. I turned mom at 12:30 and just fell back to sleep when my son came home from work around 1 and told me our dog was out. He put the dog up which was good but I looked outside and there was trash everywhere. It is not the first time this has happened. Our dog loves to climb the fench and get into the neighbors trash than drag it to our yard. No way to deny it was our dog since there is a trail from there trash cans to our front door. So here I go again . Gloves and trash bag to pick up trash.
D.O.G. for Dog of Greatness is chained up now. I hate chains but no more trash cleaning for me . In my eyes he is not such a great dog right now. Tomorrow I might not be so mad but tonight he is in the dog house.

No More Pigging Out

Help! I have been eating all day. I am hungry for some reason. I don't seem to be bored or depressed I am just hungry. If I told you before I am sorry but I lost 40lbs while I was working so I could wear my work shirt tucked in . "A new work policy". Anyway since I have not been working I am getting FAT . I have lots of stuff to do all day. I could dust, vacuum , garden, exercise but NO. I just want to eat. Not to mention laundry,dishes and taking care of mom. So I don't get bored I just don't do more than I have to. I used to bake all the time because I love to bake but I did not buy baking supplies the last trip to the store on purpose so I would not bake. No flour in the house. I miss flour. No cocoa either . I really miss cocoa. Brownies, fudge, peanut butter choc. oatmeal drop cookies. The sugar is getting lonely .What to do? What to do?

Mystery Meat

• I found out that my mom likes mystery meat. I like hamburger helper myself but its not a mystery.
• I am talking about the stuff potted meat, hot dogs, Salisbury steak TV dinners , canned corned beef hash and fish sticks are made of. What is that stuff? I started buying it because it is cheap but she eats it. It is still hard to get her to open her mouth but she will eat it better than my homemade stuff. Which is OK with me. I am rarely in the mood to cook. You can get those TV dinners for 88 cents. Can't beat that. I know these things are not very healthy but they are all protein and she has to have her protein to keep those pressure sores away. So I am going to get them .Easy and cheap for me and when she is in an eating mood she eats them . Might take an hour to get her to eat it but better than nothing. A person can't live on Ensure forever. Or maybe they can that is all I get down her somedays.Not Ensure but the cheap stuff.

Frank!!! What In The World?

I am trying to get mom to eat while online. I have found if I just sit and try to feed her I go crazy . And I can't enjoy my meal while trying to feed her. So I eat before or after . My son moved the computer into the dinning room for me that way my mind is online instead of just sitting here wishing she would eat. It helps the time pass. Believe me it takes forever to get mom to eat. Anyway I was not going to post anything today because I had nothing to say but while I was reading all my new blogger friends post mom yelled out Frank. What! I said. Why in the world would you yell out Frank? She went on to talking about something else.
Frank is my ex-husband. Now there's a memory I wish we both would forget.

I'm Going To Tell Your Mother

Mom is always going to tell my mom or call the police on me. Or call the Doctor. I keep telling her she is my mom and she just says your lying or something not so nice. I have found that sometimes if I just grab her and hug and kiss her like you would a little child she comes out of the mean mood and into a nice mood but not all the time. I get spit in the face a lot. But it is still fun when I think of doing it.
But I have trouble with keeping it personal . I find myself moving her , getting her dressed and feeding her without any emotion just doing the task like a robot. I have to remember she is my mom I am her daughter . Show her some love.

The Goodwill Store

Money is short and times are hard so it is off to the Good Will store. I have found a great store to buy moms cloths.The Salvation Army is fun too. Since she has to be changed so much I went from pants to skirts. They are so much easier to get off and on or pull up and down. Which ever the need. I have found that getting very large skirts is even better. And you can find them for around $3 to $5 .I even found me some shorts and nice blouses. Oh! they had the cutest dress which I got for $4 and I wore it to a wedding. Don't tell.
You can get cloths with velco on them from the Alz. store online but I cannot afford them. Someday I might try to make my own. But for now to lazy.
If you look around I bet there are wonderful Thrift Shops in your area. It saves so much money.
Sometimes the Goodwill Store has buy one get one sales. I found my son some long sleeve dress shirts on the buy one get one sale and he wears them to college. Don't never be to proud to shop at the Good Will store .

Brain Fart

Brain Fart is a term I learned from my son's girlfriend's mom. "I really like her and her daughter". Anyway she used this phase when she forgot what she was telling me once. Well it felt right to me this morning because my brain is fried or something today. I can't talk or get anything done right. Maybe I will go back to bed and start over later. While I was feeding mom every time I wanted her to take a bite I would say here mom take a drink and every time I wanted her to take a drink I would say open wide and take a bite. If she is not confused enough I must of really confused her this morning. T.G.I.F.

Chinese Food

My son took me to a Chinese Buffet last night while my sister Mommy sit. It was great. I ate to much. But the pain and suffering that came later was worth it.
Mom's nurse and aid have already been here this morning so the rest of the day will be routine. Lunch , changing, nap, changing , supper and bedtime. Not much but seems to take up most of the day. If we could leave the diaper changes out it would not be a bad day. Who would of thought mom changed my diapers and now I am changing hers. I bet mine where much sweeter. LOL!!!

Had a Dad

There is a study in Australia going on about Alz. check out the blog.
http://dimebon-australian-study.blogspot.com/
And check out Had a Dad blog .She has all the info.
http://alzheimersdad.blogspot.com/

Rainy Day

It has been a nice uneventful day. That is good. Mom is napping and I am on here. My Cat is laying in my lap . Tomorrow will be busy with mom's nurse and aid coming so no down time. Today I am going to enjoy the rain. My sister is coming tonight to care for mom . So it is turning into a great day. Maybe I can get my son to take me out to eat. Very good idea .

The Eight Legged Monster

More like the eight armed monster. Or an Octopus. Mom would sit in her chair all day without moving if I let her. So nice and sweet. But when it is time to change her or move her LOOK OUT!
There are hands everywhere. In my face, chest , arms, stomach. Pinching ,scratching and tugging at my cloths. The chest is the worst . We need to invent a chest guard . Oh my poor boobs.
That is when I know mom is still alive.If she finds some fat to hold on to you are in trouble. Then you have to figure out how to get her death grip to let go. She has the strength of ten man. I can hardly defend myself. When she could or would still walk she would push me away and almost knock me down sometimes. She took down the hall of the hospital once and it took 3 nurses and the doctor to get her back to bed. Than they gave her enough pills to kill a horse "So said the Doctor" and she still needed a straight jacket to hold her down.
I don't miss the days when she would try to knock me down or run away but I do miss her walking. If only there could a happy medium to this disease.

Quilt Pieces

The only thing my mom and grandma "her mother -in -law" had in common was making quilts. Mom would have me cutting quilt pieces for her when she could keep me from sneaking out to play. Than grandma stayed with us for awhile and she had me cutting quilts pieces the whole time she was here. I complained all the time. Than that Christmas my present from her was the quilt she made from the pieces I had to cut while she was here. Everyone had a big laugh and I really love that quilt.

giveaway

A great blogger is giving away some wonderful gift's for her 100th post . Go check it out.
http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/

Peanut Butter and Jelly

I found a new blog yesterday called My Peanut Butter and Jelly Life. It reminded me how much mom used to love PB&J sandwich's. First she would eat a half one all by herself . Than I had to start helping her because she kept dropping it. Than we went to cutting it up in to little baby sandwich's for finger food which worked for along time. But now she has trouble with bread since she won't leave her teeth in. I use to find her teeth in the most weird places so we stopped putting them in all together.
My son has a quiz in Physic's today. Better him than me.
My sister stayed over last night to care for mom so I got a whole nights sleep . I like that.
Have a nice week-end everyone. And remember today is Sept. 11 . Say a pray.

I Am Going To Ride My Bike Today "Really"

I have to get some exercise. When I was working full time we had to start wearing our uniform shirts tucked in and needless to say I had a few pounds to lose. Well after a lot of eating habit changes I lost 40lbs. I started eating 6 small meals a day instead of eating 3 large meals. It worked. Of course I also had to cut back on soda's , chips and sweets. But now I am home all day with mom and all I want to do is eat.
Well, I bought a stationary bike. I can ride my bike while I read the paper or watch TV. And Mom can talk to me or just talk . She talks a lot to no one. But I can answer her anyway. Sometimes I am bad and just say yes not really listening to what she is saying and she yells "You want me to leave!". I need to pay attention because sometimes she is really taking to me and knows whats going on. I love those days.
Now I just have to make myself get on that bike. I have a treadmill too. It is very dusty.

Poached Eggs

I am not a fan of poached eggs to eat but they were one of my dads favorites. He would boil water than crack the egg and drop in. It always came out perfect. Later he got one of the fancy store bought egg poachers . It was the big time for him. I retired his old egg poacher and got a nice non-stick one. The reason I like to make poached eggs for mom is that I can start them and when they turn white turn them off keep covered and go get mom up. When we come back they are done. I do the same with boiled. When they start boiling I cover and turn off burner than go get mom. There is a great trick I learned on peeling boil eggs . When done pour off hot water and rinse with cool. With no water in pan shake gently . If the eggs are done enough the shells just fall off. Does not work every time but most of the time. Now mom has enough protein for a few meals. Less cooking is a good thing.

What's So Funny?

Mom was in a great mood yesterday. She helped me put her cloths on by lifting her arms when I asked which she just stopped doing the last month. And she laughed at almost everything instead of being mad or yelling. It has been months or close to a year since she laughed. I don't know what to think. She talked to me kind of normal. I could not understand all she said but that is okay. I did not cry once yesterday. In fact I smiled a lot.
When I would ask her to take a bite of food she would say Why. That is really great for us.LOL!
When I changed her she went back to the yelling but I think part might be pain and the other is she can't understand what I am doing down there. Even when I tell her over and over. I would yell too.

I Need A Vacation

Thanks for the wonderful comments and great advice on "I Cried Today".Mom is better .And I will be sure she get her fluids .


Anyway after yesterday I am ready for vacation. Last summer my ex sent us airline tickets to Las Vegas for my sons graduation gift. It was great. My brother, his ex wife ,his daughter and my sister and her husband cared for my mom. Yes it took 5 people to care for my mom for a week.LOL! Needless to say when we got back they all ran for the hills.My brother shys away from caring for her now he will if I ask but after the week of it he won't volunteer.


Anyway My son invited his girlfriend and we had a blast. I would of rather went to the beach but for free airline tickets Vegas was good.

I cried today

I cried like a baby today. Not the first time or the last I am sure. Mom has the runs so do I need to say more.
And to top that off at 4 this morning I was picking trash up from my yard ,street and neighbors because my dog got out and got in every ones trash. At least it wasn't raining. It rained off and on all day yesterday so thank goodness for that.
I will call moms nurse if she gets any worse . I hope she is better now. I don't thank I have another cleaning in me. Right now she is napping. I love nap time. I think for supper we will have cream of chicken soup or chicken and noodle soup. That will be easy for me to make and easy for her to eat. My son wants to go get Subway sandwich's . I could go for one of those.

Football

Mom is asleep. We had a fairly good day. My son and I watched College Football all day. Which was the good part .He is gone now to see his girlfriend. I think she just got off work.
Mom was in a bad mood for breakfast so she did not eat good. And at lunch she did not want to wake up. But I got a little food and juice done her. But by supper she was hungry. It took a while but she ate pancakes and scrambled eggs. I made chili for us . Mom won't eat chili. I would hate for her to have a tummy ache all night from my chilli so good thing she won't eat it. I am going to bed. Maybe tomorrow Mom will eat more and be in a better mood.We can only hope.

activity towel

I made mom a activity towel. I got the idea from The Alzheimers store. They have great stuff but I can't afford them. Anyway you can buy quilts with differant textures and things on them for your loved one to touch. It keeps them busy and gives them something to do. I made a towel . I attached pot holders made of differant materals and a few buttons. She will pull at the buttons or just touch the pot holders. She does not play with it for long but it keeps her arms warm when she is not playing with it.
You can also get no rinse shampoo from the Alzheimers store if you can't find it had your local drug store. That stuff is great. Check them out online.

Somebody Crapped On Me

My mom was eating breakfast . I think your new meds. are working she is eating and talking . Not really making sense but wide awake. That is good.
My brother came to visit and when he touched her she yelled "Help Somebody Crapped On Me".
It was very funny . I love it when she is this way. I hate it when she is doped up.
We had a very bad ice storm this pass winter and we were without power for 3 or 4 days. Well one morning it was 34 degrees in the house . So I loaded mom up and put her in a nursing home for the remaning days without power. Not to mention the fact that it cost $350.00 a day they gave her so much med. to make her nice. I give her nice med. on the days the aid and nurse is coming but not everyday . Only enough to keep her from being scared and nervous. Anyway when I got her back she was a Zombie for 2 days and dehyidrated. I pray I never have to put her in a nursing home. I understand it is hard on the nurses to care for so many people . But I don't want my mommy in there.

T.G.I.F.

Thank god it is Fri. I am very tired It has been a busy week. It was moms birthday and we have been trying to get moms medicine regulated. She either is unhappy, anxious and mean . I can't tell you how many times I have heard the B word over the last year. Or she is sleeping all the time. I can't get her to eat when she is unhappy and mean and I can't get her to eat when she won't wake up. So the Hospice nurse is doing a great job trying to figure out how much or how little medicine to give her. This weekend I am just going to chill . I will make sure she gets enough to eat and drink and keep her moving so she don't get pressure sores. I make sure she does not stay in the same stop to long .She is in her bed , wheelchair and easy chair off and on all day. So far not one bed sore or diaper rash. You need to have a routine. It is to hard to check to see if she is wet every 5 min. I used to do that. So start a routine. She hardly is ever wet when I take her to bed . But when she relaxes she goes. Number 2 accidents happen every once in awhile but if we are lucky she goes in the morning before getting out of bed. Number 2 is always fun.NOT! It depends if she takes a short or long nap in the afternoon if I have to take her back to bed to be changed before supper but just turn her in bed every 2 hrs. And don't let her set in the easy chair all day.

Lemon Cake

I am eating some of moms birthday cake. It has been a busy morning . The aid came to give mom a bath.So I had to make sure mom had her extra nice pills. If I don't give her a nice pill mom will yell ,pinch and scratch the aid while she is trying to give her a bath. I only give mom an extra nice pill the day the aid or nurse is coming because they make her sleep . And if she sleeps all day I can't get her to eat or drink . That is not good. It is hard enough to get her to eat and drink on a good day.
My sister was here to watch mom so I ran errands after making breakfast. Mom had a fried egg and I chopped up a banana for her finger food. Bananas are messy but they are good for her. I made me and my sister bacon and tomatoe sandwichs. The tomatoes are from my sisters tomatoe plant. They were very good.
The aid brought mom some diapers,whips and gloves. I am so Thankful for Hospice. Mom is no were near end of life but she meets a few of the requirments for Hospice to come out. If not for Hospice we would be short on alot of other things we need to buy . But remember you have to ask your Docter about Hospice because the Docter will not mention it to you untill End of Life.

Happy Birthday Mom

I am really tired. We had a little party for mom. She did not really enjoy it. I made her favorite lemon cake and we had Hamburger Helper with creamed corn for supper. Took a very long time for her to eat her supper. And than just a few bites of cake. This morning while I was getting her up I sang Happy Birthday to her and she sang with me.That was nice. But tonight she did not care. My sister ,son and his girlfriend was here. We did not want to overwhelm her.
With Alzheimer's you can't except to much so we have to keep the activities simple. Just getting her to eat anything is a big job so trying to get her to taste her cake is not that important if it is going to stress her out. Anyway she is napping in her chair now . My sister went home for awhile but will be back . It is her night to stay and I get to sleep. I am so happy. And mom ate some of her veggies. It was a good day.

Finger Food

Good morning . It is raining here and nice and cool. We have had our windows open for three days. That is great for August which is usually the hottest month of the year.
Today for breakfast we had pancakes. Mom loves pancakes with syrup. If I don't cook an egg I put some peanut butter in between two pancakes than put on the syrup . Of course I have to feed mom this cause it can be messy. But I also cut up a pancake and put in front of her for finger food. I always have something for her to pick up with her hands . Crackers, bread , or cereal. I tried peas but she spits them out .

When she is sitting in her easy chair I have a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios in her reach. It is messy sometimes but easy to clean up. On a good day she will eat a bowl full. Not counting what ends up on the floor. I also have a cup with a lid and straw. So I can give her drinks.But I keep that out of her reach . She likes to turn it upside down. And a toy to play with.Something to hold or put in her mouth .Kind of like a baby. But it gives her something to do.Today is birthday day so I got to get busy and make her cake. Last year she would not even take a bite but maybe this year she will . She loves sweets and if I can get her to taste it she will eat it.

Shopping

I just got back from Wal-mart. My son stayed with mom. I got all I needed for her birthday. And I was so happy they had baby diapers "which I use at night to lay under her instead of adult diapers" in a extra big box of 120 for $18.00.You have to watch Wal-mart . They will make the size of the container smaller but leave the price the same to make you think there prices are not going up. I used to get 102 baby diapers for around $17 than they went to 92 or 96 diapers in a box. But tonight I got the 120 count. That is good.
Also I just started using coupons more. I got free yogurt with a coupon. If you visit "Freebies 4 Mom" you can learn how to use coupons. She told us to wait till the coupon item is on sell than use your coupon you can get it free or almost free.
Mom is being so good tonight. She is watching TV or listening to it. Anyway no yelling for me or wanting to go home. She is home but just don't realize it. Poor thing. I pray a lot for nice nights like this.Thank you lord.

Angel Food and Egg Drop Soup

I got Ramen Noodles on the stove and I am going to drop an egg in them when they are done. That way mom gets her protein . It is kind of like Egg Drop Soup you get at a Chinese Restaurant but not as good. While the Noodles are cooking I am trying to feed mom some pear puree I got from the Angel Food Ministries. They are great . You order food one Saturday a month then go back and get it the next Sat. It is pretty good food for a low price. Look them up to see if you can get it in your area.
Anyway I have some peas I am going to sneak into the noodles too. If mom doesn't spit it all out she will get a nice meal for a low price.
I got a great booklet on Alzheimer's from the National Institute On Aging. It is called Caregiver Guide. In it I read that if you use the patients name instead of saying mom or dad they might respond. It works most of the time. She will just sit there and ignore me and I will say Earlene and she wakes up and takes a bite. Sometimes. She is eating the pear puree good. When I have the money I like to go to Aldies and buy a lot of canned fruit and veg. Than I can puree them myself . Much cheaper that way. I can get her to eat fruit anytime but now if I could only get her to eat her veggies.

Nap time for mom

I just put mom down for a nap. I hope she takes a nap. I really had to change her so if she takes a nap that will be a bonus. I have been lucky she does not yell and scream while in bed like she used to . I think it is the medicine. Some days she sleeps a lot and others she does not. She had sun downers for awhile which is when the person with Alzheimer's gets really nervous or mean at bedtime. But the medicine the Doc. has her on or she is just past that stage of the disease makes her not so bad at night. Anyway I take her in everyday around 1 or 2 to change her. And sometimes again before supper. Depends on if she is napping or not. If she is napping I will let her stay in bed till supper than she is good till bed time. I like those days. I still have to turn her in two hrs. but she will go back to sleep on a good day. I am eating a sandwich. We are getting low on groceries so I need to go to store today or tomorrow. Tomorrow is moms birthday she will be 82. I can't buy much till the first of the month but I am going to get stuff to make lemon cake that is her favorite and something to make for dinner. My sister and son will be here. So I want to have a nice supper and cake. My sister works full-time on the night shift at the Hospital as a housekeeper. She gets one night off a week and comes over here to watch mom so I can sleep all night. That is nice. No getting up every two hrs. to turn and change mom.
I was good at lunch instead of just yogurt ,cereal and nutrition drink I made mom an egg. Only cause we are out of milk , and nutrition drinks. She needed the protein anyway. I gave her ice tea to drink with her meds. in it. She drank it all . That was nice. Oh and yogurt. She loves her yogurt.It is hard to get her to eat the egg but the yogurt is pretty easy. I will try to get some veggies down her at supper. I promise.

Breakfast for mom

I'm trying to get mom to eat a fried egg . It is not easy . She either spits it out or just won't open her mouth. I also have a smoothie .She likes that . She really don't like the cold but it is sweet and she loves sweets. They are great. My son makes them for us all the time. It is 1/2 cup orange juice , 1/2 cup milk, 6 oz vanilla yogurt , banana and 4 ice cubes . Put in blender than enjoy. My son will sometimes add other frozen fruit like blueberries, strawberries or mixed fruit . He gets the big bags in the freezer section at Wal-mart . They are so good.
I sometimes crush mom's medicine and put in the smoothie. She will not swallow her med. anymore so I crush it all . You will have to ask the Doc. which medicines can be crushed because time-released cannot be crushed but you can get some med. in liquid form too.
For lunch there is no way I can get her to eat much. She is not wanting to eat. So I give her a nutrition drink and some yogurt. Than while we are watching TV I hand feed her Honey Nut Cheerios. I am out of juice and Gatorade this morning so she is drinking water. Most of the time I try to get her to drink at least 4- 8oz classes of something a day and water in between . It is also hard to get her to drink. She won't swallow or spits it out . It is an all day job. But I don' t want her to get dehydrated. That is bad. The Doc. told me to give her Gatorade everyday to help keep her sodium level up . She is bad about having low sodium levels and that is bad. You would need to ask your doc. about that if you have the same problem with your love one. I was giving her two much water and she had to go to hospital to get her sodium levels up . Who knew.

Good morning

I am fixing to go bug mom. I have to get her up now because it is aid day. She hates to get a bath. It is just a sponge bath because we cannot get her in and out of the tub. She will not use her legs anymore. I have a lift for her . It is a god send. The Doc. did not want to order it for me but I was having to pick her up from bed to the wheelchair and then to the easy chair. It was killing me. The Doc. said once I start using the lift she will never use her legs again. But she was just using one anyway and I was doing all the rest. He had a p.t. start coming over and she told me that mom would not take direction and would not try to walk. So finally the Doc. ordered a lift. I had to make parcel payments on it and Medicare paid the rest. Now it is ours. We paid it off in about a yr. We also have a hospital bed . You have to have the Doc. order it but than Medicare will help pay for it. We own it too. It is good to have because you have to put a basket kind of thing under mom and than hook it up to the lift . And if she is laying flat when you start lifting her it is hard on her and you. So with the bed you can raise the head and that is better for everyone. Than you just roll the lift around. It is on wheels and pull the wheelchair under her and lower the lift. It has a handle to pump up and a lever to push to let her down. It is very nice.But scary. At first she fell out a few times. Which could of been bad but luckily she did not break anything. I have it down now. No dropping .

bed time for mom down time for me

I just got mom to bed . It's a job but I am so relieved after I get her to bed. I can get online or watch TV for awhile and then hit the hay myself. Even knowing I have to get up in two hours to change and turn her so she won't get those nasty bed sores I am still so happy to get to rest awhile and be by myself. I have found that changing her is easier when you don't put a diaper on her . Just lay a pad or two under her . You can use baby diapers to put under her . I use three small ones . The top one is usually the only one to get wet so I reuse the other two.They are cheaper and you can 92 wal-mart brand for around $17.00. They might be cheaper at Sams but I have not checked.That way her bottom can get air and all you have to do is remove it clean her and put lots of Vaseline or what ever you use to keep the moisture off her bottom and than turn her and put fresh pads under her. Make sure you have a under pad on the bed to protect the bed from getting wet. It is a pain to change sheets in the middle of the night. You can get cloth ones that you can wash and use over or Sam's has over 100 throw away ones for around $20.00. I use both. Depends on what I am using them for. I have the cloth ones in her wheelchair and her easy chair. She also has a nice soft pad on her bed which helps keep those bed sores away. I hate bed sores. Good night. I am going to watch the CMT special on TV.