Well, She Made It To 91

I spent a nice week with Mom and family, enjoying the hot Michigan weather and seeing friends. She continues to amaze me with her progress and what she is pushing herself to do.

My arrival Wednesday coincided with Julie from Hospice arriving to do the paperwork enrolling Mom in Hospice. The continuing, debilitating pain in her shoulders makes it possible for Hospice to provide care for pain management and other issues dealing with the deterioration of her health. Hospice will be providing some of her medication to include lidocaine patches for her shoulders as well as supplies and some other meds, their palliative care is great and Mom seems to like Julie and looks forward to her visits.

Thursday started off a little rough for Mom and Tanya. Both had some intestinal problems during the night but recovered enough for Mom to do some ironing in the afternoon. The young man who was supposed to mow her lawn didn't show up so I took care of that making sure the clippings were placed at the curb for pick up on Friday.

Following her Friday morning walk, which consists of walking up and down the driveway a few times, she and I sat outside the garage to enjoy the nice morning. She seems to enjoy sitting out there in the captains chair brought up from the basement and likes feeling the warm sun and enjoying the rose bush from Aunt Alice that has been full of blooms. Hospice Julie showed up as scheduled and the pain patches were applied. Within an hour the pain abated enough that she had almost full range of motion with minimum discomfort. Mom and Kim enjoyed a nice lunch from BWW with plans to have the left overs for dinner tonight.  John, the Hospice social worker, was with Mom when I returned from running around and they were having a nice chat sitting outside. Mom said she had walked the drive again and was feeling okay. When she got back in the house she was tired but looking forward to a visit from one of her friends.

Cousin Maggie came over Saturday morning and planted flowers in the front of the house, her birthday present to Ruth, and we enjoyed a nice visit before I took Mom to get her hair done. We discussed going to visit Priscilla but she wanted something for lunch and to go home. She spent the rest of the day resting, planning what she & Kim were going to have for dinner and talking on the phone. Val also was there with birthday presents and had a nice visit with Mom.

Following church on Sunday we went to visit Priscilla and her family. The girls had a nice time together and as always, enjoyed each others company. Val & I spent several hours with Denise and Sheila and her family and it seems everyone had a very nice time.

Dinner at Byron and Colleens Monday was a nice quiet celebration of Mom's 91st birthday. Byron grilled steaks, Colleen made a great salad and Sanders bumpy cake was complemented with Strohs French vanilla ice cream. Even the rain didn't dampen our enjoyment of each others company and Mom raved about how wonderful Byron's steaks were.

I left Tuesday morning, got home about 5:30 following an uneventful trip. I spoke with Maria from Hanna's Home Health Care about some concerns we had about her caregivers and was able to resolve the issues to ensure Mom continues to receive the care she needs and that she's paying for.

Mom looks forward to hearing from her friends and relatives and looks forward to visits throughout the day. Getting outside and the pain patches seem to have lifted her spirits and she is even turning the A/C on more frequently.

That's it for now. Hospice Julie will be making her weekly visit tomorrow and I hope her lawn gets mowed this afternoon.

That's all for now.