Caregiving Journal 4

She goes up, she goes down.  Yesterday was down a little.  After my Aunt Billie's memorial we went to see Mom at Northwoods.  She was in her new private room, but she wasn't liking it that much.  A big room with just her in it was kind of lonely.  She perked up when we arrived, my brother and I, but was sad to hear where we'd been.  We'd brought her the program and I had made a list of all of her old church friends that asked about her and sent their love.  She was happy that people were thinking of her, but sad about Billie and sad she hadn't been able to be there.  Minutes later she decided she was glad she hadn't had to go.

We found the Turner Classic Movies channel and Gunga Din, with Cary Grant and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. She talked to us, or rather we talked to her and she responded, while the movie played.  About 10 minutes after we got there she asked to go to the bathroom.  We found her "magic button" and she pushed it to signal an aide.  The aide came in and got Mom up to her walker and she charged to the bathroom--literally--she can walk fast and always has walked faster than me.  After she was done in there I saw the aide walking out of the room with a specimen container that had yellow liquid in it.  "Did she pee?" I called.  "Yes, she did!" was the reply.  It was a time for celebration rather than mourning.  It's amazing that a jar full of pee can be so exciting.  I don't know if it was the very first time but it was the first we knew about it since she'd gone to the hospital on April 4th.

We watch Mom like hawks if we are there for a meal, to see what she chooses, for future reference, and how much she eats.  That night for dinner she was having the Ground Meat of the Day again, with gravy, those pumped up potatoes, also with gravy, chopped up green beans, too.  This time there was a bowl of cream soup and that's what she concentrated on, eating 3/4 of the bowl.  I think it's the most I've seen her eat in a long time.  So, if and when she goes home, cream soups will be a staple.  Friday the OT told me that they found out Mom liked butter, so they put it on her eggs and they were adding cream to her cocoa along with some Ensure.  They are adding calories in creative ways.  They probably put cream in her soup, too.  No wonder she liked it.

After dinner it was back to her room to sit up for 15 minutes before being allowed to lie down again on the bed she has come to love.  Gunga Din was still on, Cary and Doug, Jr. swashbuckling, socking, getting lashed by pseudo East Indians in heavy dark make-up but giving it away with blue eyes. Finally, Romeo came in (Romeo!!!) to help Mom into bed.  A deep sigh of relief and a comment about Romeo being cute.  We left her to her nap then, in her big room, with her stuffed bunny, Pinkie, and Gunga Din.