Caring for Mom

Since Grandma returned to Heavenly Father, mom moved in with us. It's great having her here. She adds another element that can be a challenge at times. Yet we love having her with us. When she is happy and feeling well, she adds alot of laughter to what we are doing. We fixed up a room for her, our cousin who always wanted to come out this way brought her bed, etc out to her. She is all settled in, new doctors selected, insurance (Medicare) finally resolved etc. Now the every day things.

We have to watch her medicine intake like a hawk. Last month she took more med's from her pill dispenser that she was supposed to. Of course she denies it and says she doesn't remember doing anything like that. So I took to setting out her evening med's so she knows which ones to take and then setting out her morning med's on her night stand so she could take those when she woke up each day. Last week she went out on a Girls Night out with our daughters and my sweetheart. They got back from the movie at 11:30 and I was already asleep (Go figure). Next morning (Saturday) Mom comes out of her room and says to me, "There's no medicine to take." I explained "I put it on your nightstand like I have been doing." She says it's not there. I ask "Mom, you didn't take your morning med's last night did you?" She replies "Well! I noticed there were more pills last night than I normally take!" "My stomach was upset all night too!!" Really! "Mom you took a double dose of pills! No wonder you don't feel good right now."

So begins a more diligent exercise of ensuring she has the right pills each day. We talked of adopting an older child at one point, but I see now what we just didn't do it. I think taking care of mom may turn into a bit of a job. Not sure how that will work when I start traveling again. She has been dizzy for and nearly fallen several times over the last two weeks. She has an appoint today to have a MRI done on her and she has an appointment for Wednesday for a neurologist. I hope we can find out why is is so unsteady on her feet at times. More to follow.