Busy Year

Just a quick note to my previous post about the father who had a sign in his yard about his daughter. He called me and we talked for a 15-20 minutes and I promised to stop by next time I'm in Sedalia, MO and we would have coffee or something.

It's been a busy year, no big concerns about our son, he is still doing fine.  Alex is working and raising a family, that is enough to keep anyone busy.

A little update on Darlene. Some of you may remember that last year Darlene was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is doing fine. Clear margins and all the surgeries are complete. Early this summer her last doctor visit was completed and she got her nipple tattoos.

During all of this my mother's dementia got progressively worse. Last week we had to put her in a nursing home. So far she is not acclimating to life in her new place. She thinks she is being held hostage in a casino.  I played along and told her they won't let her go until she loses enough money. I know it's not nice to tease an old person but if you aren't laughing you are crying.

She refuses to take her medicine because she believes they are giving her pills to kill her. She is taking her medicine now because I gave the nurse one of the "daily pill" boxes we were using at home and now she thinks I bring the pills in each day because they dump the pills into her hand out of the pill boxes we were using.

The doctor has added some Xanex to her pill mix to get her calmed down. She is pretty drugged up but that is OK with me right now to help her settle down. We can begin adjusting the dosages down as she becomes used to her new place.

The staff and I have been working closely to try and get her settled. It takes a lot more patience than I possess.

The nursing home is very nice with lots of activities and the staff seems very caring and gentle.

It's hard to practise self care when so much is happening but everyone needs to take care of themselves no matter what is going on around you. I've been trying to spend some time at the lake with the kids. That is my way of taking care of myself.