Caregiving Journal 9

Here is a picture my husband took yesterday of me and my Mom at Northwoods.  She is very frail but she was unusually awake yesterday when we went to see her--no delusions, no napping in the middle of a conversation, seeming perfectly happy to be where she was.  I helped her to the bathroom at one point and she needed only minimal help getting off of her bed and she walked quickly, holding my arm, to her bathroom.  I think going home is in the cards.  Tuesday my brother and I will meet with the "care team" and find out what they are thinking and what kind of progress they are seeing.  I have seen progress daily, except for her eating.  Friday, though, she was reported to have eaten a hearty breakfast, so if she gets what she likes, she will eat.  It was either scrambled eggs made with butter and cream, or oatmeal laced with butter, protein powder, brown sugar and topped with cream.  Who cares about cholesterol at this point, calories are what we are pushing.

Mom hasn't seem a single highlight of the Royal Wedding, she said yesterday.  I assured her that her People magazine will have a lavish spread, with lots of pictures.  She had a new flower arrangement, but didn't know who had brought it.  Too bad, for patients with memory problems, that there isn't a guest book so that we and the patient can see who has visited.  If Mom ends up back in a place like Northwoods eventually, I will put something like that on the counter with a place for messages that can be read later to jog her memory.

Today we have a doctor's appointment, early.  I will leave at 8:15 to meet Mom at the urologist's office of Ted Johnsrud in Silverdale.  She is looking forward to her van ride.  There might be a good-looking driver and she says it will be "exciting".  That's the Mom I like to see.  The doctor is an old friend of mine from Unitarian Fellowship days.  He is a sensitive and gentle man. He plays the harmonica and idolizes Toots Theilman.  I think he was the doctor my Dad saw for his prostate problems years ago, so Mom may have met him.  She will like him, I'm sure.  He will be an important link to her future health, pronouncing her bladder fit--or not.

The doctor Mom sees on Friday this week will also be important.  Dr. Yee is the gastroenterologist who did her TWO colonoscopies while she was in the hospital.  I have never met him.  I have only seen his chicken scratches, slightly readable, on Mom's chart.  He works with Dr. Sharma who helped me discover Metamucil a long time ago when I was having frequent heartburn.  I hope Dr. Yee is easier to understand than Dr. Sharma was.  Dr. Sharma was a crackerjack of a doctor, I liked him, but oh dear, I had trouble with his Indian/English that flew out of his mouth like bats out of a cave at dusk. I even asked one of the people in his office how hard it was to transcribe his recorded notes.  She told me one person quit because she couldn't decipher them.

This week will give us many answers, if not more questions.  We are on day 20 at Northwoods.  That means only 10 more days before we have to start paying the daily co-pay.  I hate to have to think about money while my mom is recovering, but it's a big fact of life.  And it must be, that if I am concerned about money, then I must not be quite as worried about Mom.

Yesterday was a good day.  The sun was shining for the first and last time in days.  We visited Mom, she displayed energy, we went to downtown Bremerton to look at the Harborside condominiums just for kicks, I got a Starbucks (half-caff) coffee and after dinner, while watching 60 Minutes, we all got the word that Osama Bid Laden was killed.  Truly a memorable day.  It's ironic.  My Dad died 10 days before 9/11/01 and 10 years later Mom is lying in a nursing home bed while Osama Bid Laden, the architect of that horrible day of death, is found.  Full circle.