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