Wednesday, January 14, 2009

It's Going to Get HOW Cold?

Wind chills of -10 to -15. A new truck with no engine block heater and our appointment to have one installed isn't until Friday morning. At least the doctors' visits are over for the week. Results? No need for a colonoscopy for Mom as all tests were negative or clear. Basically the reason she was in the hospital is that she fell into a blue funk and drank the days away while not eating any solid foods. So I'm easing into conversations about good eating and sleeping habits, trying to get her to stay up until 8 or 9 PM instead of going to bed at 5:30 PM (like tonight) and talking about living situation choices. The cataract surgery on her eye has healed well so she can get new glasses now, although Mom admits that she's not really capable of driving yet, physically and mentally. *grateful sigh*

So far this week a home health care nurse and a physical therapist have stopped by and tomorrow will be the social worker and an aide who will do the physical therapy. Mom has already turned down a visit from the personal care aide and I think there's an occupational therapist or some such still to come. All of that was arranged at the hospital while my sister was with Mom, so I'm not quite sure who all we have coming over the next couple of weeks. Mom of course hates all of it and will probably "fire" them sometime next week, just as she did this past summer after she was hospitalized with a similar problem. "After all," she says, "Linda's here to take care of me." Hmm, I'm thinking I'm here to get you back on your feet so you can take care of yourself. *snort*

Patches has been curled up on my lap several times today, something she using only does on cold mornings in the trailer. I don't think she likes the cold weather, the snow, or the nicotine-scented, cigarette smoke-filled house here. Quite frankly, neither do Denny or I, but at least we can understand the reason we're here. Patches keeps looking out the window hoping for a different view than the one she saw last night and it just isn't changing for her like it does in the trailer. We plan to return to Alabama in April to haul the trailer back up to Ohio and I think the cat is going to be happy to be back in her traveling house for once. Even if the house won't be moving again until fall.

In the meantime, there will be many more discussions about lifestyle options, choices, and changes. A different sort of journey for us....

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good luck with all of this. I can appreciate how difficult this is and will be.

My Bear is like Patches. Every morning he runs to the back door hoping to visit his favourite spot outside. And every morning a cold blast of Arctic air has him quickly back up and hightail it back into the warmth. I can almost hear his kitty sighs.

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