Weekend Wrap Up

Had a fairly stress free weekend, comparably. Dot and I have decided to take turns babysitting my dad. I was on duty on the weekend. Dot is there tonight and I figure I'll try and relieve her toward the end of the week.

My dad is much happier now that my mom is closer and he can go visit her at will. I have no update on my mom's progress yet. Figure I'll check in at the hospital tomorrow at lunch time.

On Saturday, Dot took T to the Children's museum. She was so excited about that I thought she'd explode. We then had haircutting in the afternoon, so T got to hang with her idol Sophie again, then....on Saturday night... T and Dot had a slumber party at Dot's apartment. T has been so suspiciously mum on the subject, I'm starting to worry that it involved liquor, boys and tube tops. ;)


Meanwhile, my frig has been inexplicably working and not working all weekend. Not working enough to ruin all in the freezer, but working enough to perhaps save the stuff in the fridge section. Sometimes its on and seemingly fine, then I'll check back and its out again. The repairman comes tomorrow, so I'm happy about that. Wii game though? Still kaput. Bummer.

So that's it. Weekend is over, Olympics are over, and its back to work and school for us all. Hope you all had a great weekend.

The Rest of the Story

so, after leaving the nurse in the hospital room with my mother with a warning that she's trying to get up out of bed, we returned the next day to find her in a different room. Nurse's said that they needed her "closer". Why, you ask?

Because she got up out of bed an frickin fell. I was so mad I can't tell you. I had warned them. So, they took her down for a cat scan to make sure that there was no hemmoraging in the brain. Luckily, no problems and she has now been released to St. Catherine's Rehab hospital in North Miami. Room 360.

And, right along with the luck my family seems to be having in 2010, I returned home last night to find that the Wii game isn't working...not getting electric. Also, my fridge is broken. Its getting electric b/c the light comes on, but its not cooling. No motor. Repair man can't come til monday.

Olympic Commentary

Here are the Russian Ice Dancers from the Olympics. They are supposed to be dressed as Australian Aborigines. Taylor's comment upon see her?

"Ohhh, mama, she looks like Tinkerbell"

I was thinking that she looked more like Tinkerbell on Crack, but kept my opinions to myself. Yikes.

Meanwhile, my mom remains in the hospital. She did in fact have a mild stroke, and will probably be released to St. Catherine's Rehab hospital again. Don't know how well that will go, since we were just at the hospital and she was starting the "I want to go home" routine. I had to stop her from pulling out her tubes and such. Finally got my dad out of there, b/c I think when she sees him is when she gets more upset and wants to go home. However, once again, its a good sign. There first couple days she just laid there, not saying anything. At least now she wants to go home. Downside was that she thought she was at my sister dorothy's house. Didn't understand that she was in the hospital.

So, I called the nurse to attend to her while I got my dad out, then went and picked up Taylor from school. Now we're at his house where we've been sleeping every night, trying to keep him from going nuts without her. I'll be dragging him off to the doctor tomorrow.

Something Positive

When something positive happens lately, I cling to it with all my might, no mattter how slightly positive it may be. The positive thing today was that my mom seemed more alert towards the afternoon. Plus, she seems to have regained movement in her left arm. Haven't seen her stand yet, but the nurses report that they went in the room to check on her, and she was standing. How she managed to get out of a hospital bed with rails, I'll never know. Also, I wasn't able to speak to the actual witness, so I'm not sure how well she was standing. However, just the fact that she was standing at all I take as a positive sign.

We suspect that she may get released from the hospital either Tuesday or Wednesday. We'll see. Haven't heard any results from any tests, yet, and I think that the MRI will be on Monday.

That's it for now!

...and the Princess played

...yep, before taking my mom to the hospital, we dropped T off at my friends house. Sophie is her idol and she was thrilled. In fact, she's still with them out to dinner. Apparently they played all day, went into the pool, and are now celebrating Sophie's grandma's birthday. It appears from this pic, that T conned Sophie into dressing her up in princess clothes, always a favorite pass time.

Meanwhile, my mom is in the hospital, and will probably remain there for a few days while they attempt to get to the bottom of what is going on. I took my dad to visit, and we got home a little while ago. So, that's it for now.

Some bad news...

Our aide has been calling us today, informing us that she thinks something is going on with my mom. My mom awoke complaining of pain in her shoulder, and was slumping to side many times during the day. Plus, she had a really hard time holding some things.

We suspect that she may have had another mild stroke, and have a call in to the Dr. She doesn't seem to be in any pain, just more quiet. She still recognizes us all, so that's good. We had her trying to stand up just now, and she was having markedly increased difficulty doing it than yesterday. Plus, she has trouble moving one arm now. Sigh.

Guess we can just take it all a day at a time.

This and That

...well, I almost screwed up my tooth fairy duties. I forgot to wake up and switch out the tooth for some cash. Didn't remember til after I woke T up. Luckily, she's both slow to wake and sleeping in my bed. I was able to sneak out to her room and make the switch. Aunt Ceci got this cute quilted fairy that hangs on the door. It has a little pocket in which one can put the tooth/cash. I pretended surprise and she was thrilled.

Meanwhile, it finally happened. T comes running over to me at school during pick up, and I bend down like always and give her a kiss. For the first time ever, she proceeded to wipe it off and say, "Yuck, Mommy, I'm too big for kisses".

SAYS FRICKIN' WHO????????????????

Unfortunately, this appears to be a bit of karma coming around and biting me on the ass. I well remember being embarassed when my parents would kiss me in front of my pals, often resulting in my making some snarky comment. I just don't remember ever doing it in preK. That wasn't until at least 3rd, 4th or 5th grades, at the very least.

Kid loses a 2nd tooth, and thinks she's a teenager. What's up with that?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Tonight we celebrated my mother's and my birthday. She turned 85 today. Let's just say that I am now officially closer to 50 than 40. Bummer! Anyway, we had a cake that T insisted upon filling with candles. Of course, even though it wasn't her birthday, she as usual horned her way up to the cake and proceeded to "help" to blow out the candles. She just loves B-days.

Now that this has passed, the countdown to T's birthday begins. Maybe this week I'll put a ticker up. T is very excited that both me, grandma, and herself with have a "5" in their age.

Tooth Number 2

...is a goner!

Yep, its been wiggling like crazy, and the new tooth had already broken the skin behind it, and now its gone. It came out in school, and Mrs. M has saved it for me in the classroom. I'll pick it up tomorrow morning, and impersonate the tooth fairy yet again tomorrow night.

T is so proud of herself, she can't stand it.

Meanwhile, the Wee game is in time out for the forseeable future. Last night T didn't want to stop when I told her. She then proceeded to hit me on top of my head (as I was sitting in a chair and she was standing next to me). So, its all up on a high shelf.

That's it for now!

Home Sweet Home

We returned home on Sunday night with much anticipation. Problem is, there was apparently a power failure sometime after Friday. My digital thermostat on the a/c apparently reset itself, and was set for 49 degrees. The thing must have been cranking all weekend. I shudder to think what my electric bill will be. Problem was, it was so cold in the house, that we couldn't stand it. Plus, I believe that the system had froze up, b/c it would not function correctly and I couldn't get the heat to work. T and I slept together in my bed, with the heating pad as I have no space heaters.

Luckily, when I turned on the heat this morning, it started warming up.

T and I spent the holiday shopping around. Bought the Wee Mari0 br0s cart and she's driving like a speed demon.

Tomorrow, its back to school and work for both of us. I can't wait!

Meanwhile, a big thanks goes out of our Aunt Connie, for the St. Val wishes. I had meant to send out cards, but with all the craziness that is my life, I seem to have forgotten.

Story of my life.

She's Home

Yes, my mom is now out of the hospital, and home. We still do not have any confirmed help, but will be meeting with both Donna and Olive, for the job. After my sis and I taking care of my mom for the past 2 days, we no longer think that Donna is necessarily demanding too much money. this is really hard work. Poor Dot and I are exhausted.

In the meantime, I think that she's eating better b/c she's happy to be home. On the other hand, she needs alot more help that I had anticipated. So, we'll see.

T is being a very good girl, and helping us as much as she can. For example, my mom wanted to get into bed and we needed to prepare it. But she wanted to go now and was trying to get up. I ordered T to watch Grandma for a few minutes, and yell if she tried to get up. T did a great job. We were able to prepare the bed, and get her in it without incident.

So, that's it for now. Say a huge prayer that we can get the help in.

Big, Big Day

Today is a big, big day. My mom gets released from the hospital today. She'll be transported home via ambulance, and the guys will take her into the house. According to the rehab hospital, she can walk 120 ft with a walker and minimal assistence. That's almost the length of 1/2 a football field. She can also supposedly go up 8 steps with assistence. Pretty good! Yeah, Mom!

I'm going to start looking into ramps for the house, to get her in and out more easily. Apparently there are companies that will come out and install them. We're also thinking about a motion bed.

Meanwhile, the quest for an aide continues. The frustrating thing about it all is that most of the people we've contacted are not calling us back. That doesn't bode well. So, the search continues.

Things Looking Up

Well, things are looking up a bit. I returned to the office today, which was desparately needed. Dot is doing parent duty this week, working from their house.

We're still searching for help. Its hard to know, though, exactly what type of help is needed...live in vs 12 hours a day...until we know a bit better what my mother's physical state is. I'm going to call the hospital tomorrow, to find out more. The more I think about it, the more questions I have about this whole transition.

Perhaps we can get someone to live in for the first few weeks, and then decide if we need to search for a permanent live in, or if someone during the day would suffice. This "unknown" is stressing me out to the max.

Grrrrr...

...just when we thought everything was settled, the live-in is demanding more money. Frankly, more than we are prepared to pay. So, we're desparately scouring the county for an alternative. I have a call into a lady who worked in the SAO Cafe. She was fired just before xmas, and i think her husband also lost his job. She's been selling prepared foods outside the building hoping to make ends meet. She would not be a live in, but perhaps could be here from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. My parents go to bed around that time, anyway.

We'll see.

Maybe I could convince her to stay here for the first week or two, to see how my mom is during the night. So, we're pretty much stressing out about this, as we must have someone here so that Dot and I can go into work. Can't work at home forever. Sigh.

Its at times like these when I truly wish we were independently wealthy. Meanwhile, what do the poor souls do who can't afford anything? I really hope healthcare reform gets passed soon.