Mental Decline & Dependency/Coping With Aging Loved Ones

Hey Noddy

How did the home nursing meeting go?

Hope your swollen and squishy toots are draining nicely whilst your feet are UP on the chaise longue! mmmmm.... they are UP, right? for a little time today. Trashy novel in hand!???

Yep - Mr Noddy will make his own decisions on what he will or won't take meds-wise... and until you are back to at least "tut tutting" strength - he will have to do what he will do. When you feel better then you will be able to tolerate misbehaviour on his part in a better light. At the moment - everything is a drain on the little energy resources you have. I hope he still trying to make efforts in the right direction.

Thinking of you and hoping that today you have managed 15-20minute bursts.... if not, well, maybe tomorrow.

Iz xxxx

Phoenix--

Thank you. Good to see you posting.

I woke up this morning, full of hope and ambition and had a wonderful bath. Now I'm going to have to take a wonderful rest before heading out for local strawberries--and perhaps some fresh-baked bagels.

fbaezer--

Thanks for the moral support. Mr. Noddy has been startled many times since Friday to be reminded that there are two invalids in this house and "helpmeet" doesn't mean "lackey".

EhBeth--

You have a talent for making supportive remarks.

Love your avatar. The authority in those hips is SO you.

Izzie--

You obviously grok my feet. We have so much in common.


The interview with the Intake Worker went well. Mr. Noddy demonstrated Classic Denial and Ego Saving Evasion and out-and-out arrant lying and the caseworker took notes.

She called his doctor's office about some cuts that he'd been ineptly dressing since a fall two weeks ago and the doctor's office called here. Mr. Noddy was discharged on Friday because his doctor is off on vacation this week.

I expressed some of my fury about the early discharge, particularly the part where the doctor both recommended Visiting Nurses (who are paid for by Medicare only if the patient is housebound) and "limited driving".

Yesterday in the supermarket (where the pharmacist straightened out the problem with Mr. Noddy's new insulin delivery system) Mr. Noddy wasn't up to selecting a dozen bottles of diet soda. He was overwhelmed by choice and his memory couldn't keep track of what flavors he'd put in the cart and what flavors he still wanted.

He was riding one of the little electric buggies and bolstered his masculinity by laughing merrily as he deliberately blocked three very understanding shoppers from navigating up and down the soda aisle.

I hope I would have been as understanding of someone else's antic lunatic.

At the end of the interview with the Visiting Nurse he told her that he was going for coffee (a half mile down the road) with his Doctor's Express Permission which cancelled out the Medicare Guidelines.

I do not feel particularly friendly toward Mr. Noddy's doctor right now.


Again, many thanks for the good wishes and moral support. This challenging week isn't over yet.

How lovely it is to hear the smile in your voice. I hope it remains with you throughout the day, especially when Mr.N decides he may require of dose of sympathy whilst you are feeling a little more energised.



Oh Noddy - do you know, I can hear the way you say that. If we practice those words daily it gets little easier to keep the rage in check. Spoken quietly, with indignation through slightly gritted teeth, but with enough "quiet" emphasis behind them, and the emotion behind the eyes, that if anyone who actually listening will know we really want to say.... "if that doctor comes within 1 meter ppfpfpfpfftstttf spitting distance of me, he had better make sure he is prepared for the tongue lashing he surely deserves" (or in my world right now, I would be using a cuss word!!!)

so altogether now...

I do not feel particularly friendly toward Mr. Noddy's doctor right now.
I do not feel particularly friendly toward Mr. Noddy's doctor right now.
I do not feel particularly friendly toward Mr. Noddy's doctor right now.

very good! Practice will make perfect, and, as no-one is perfect - look out Mr.N's doc when he has had his happy little vacation!! :wink:

In saying that tho Noddy - I am DELIGHTED to hear your smile - keep it going as long as you can, rest up when you need to... and keep holding that dominion.

So good to hear you waking up to a good feeling. It's been in short supply for you - and I hope it continues.

Iz x



ps I am having to practice my lines hourly! ggggggggrrrrrrr

I wrote this a week ago. It still applies.

I hope you are preparing your speech for Mr. Noddy's doctor when he returns.

Thanks, all.

The day went downhill after the fresh bagels--culminating in slicing my finger when the knife slipped.

Last week's Remicade treatment was designed to depress my overactive immune system.

Mr. Noddy kept putting his "clean, just-washed" fingers on the sterile parts of the dressings I was trying to apply one-handed. The wound was bleeding freely, but he wanted to "wash it out" with saline solution which would cancel out his "clean" fingers.

I screamed like a fishwife--and I'd probably do so again.

This morning I'm very weak, very dizzy. With luck an order for bloodwork will be in the morning mail. I suspect I'm severely anemic. I have no energy; the insides of my eyelids have no color; my sense of perspective has got up and went and multi-tasking--digesting food coupled with walking across the floor--is impossible.

This has happened before--one of the side effects of chemo. A transfusion may be necessary.

Favorite Stepson is picking Mr. Noddy up to deal with refinancing the car. Mr. Noddy toyed with the idea of sleeping until Punctual Favorite Stepson arrived at 8:30. He doesn't want to hurry.

Meanwhile, the appointment with the Credit Union--45 minutes away-- is at 9:30. Mr. Noddy takes an hour to dress.

This is not necessarily going to be a happy day.

P.S.: I'll be replying to PM's as my energy allows. I do appreciate both the private and public support more than I can tell you.

Hey Noddy

Hard to start the day with no energy, leave alone get to finishing the day.

So sorry the dissipation of wonderment on getting up yesterday vanished so quickly - and especially when the meds you are taking to help, make you feel even worse. I hope that whilst favourite step-son takes Pop out that he can maybe hold onto him for a tad longer so you can just go back and rest. Chores and anything else can wait. Resting is more important right now - perspective will not come back whilst illness and fatigue are topping the bill in the Noddy World. Even then it may be sorely tempted to stay away for a while. That's fine.... that's what your friends are for... they can be the perspective - all you must do is rest up right now - every chance you can get.

Please try and rest - and maybe a call to check about the blood tests would be in order - though I know even the effort of having to chase with a phonecall is something you can do without too.

Thinking of you Noddy and hope the day will improve for you. MrN will be off shortly - then it's YOU time. Just YOU.

Hold your dominion girl, or lay it down by the chaise longue and put those feet back up. K!

Iz x

Izzie--

Believe me, I intend to relish my respite from Mr. Noddy this morning.

He's now up and out of bed--and Favorite Stepson is on the way. He's decided not to skip breakfast after all (he's diabetic).

I don't envy Favorite Stepson and the Loan Officer this morning.

Unfortunately the Credit Union is 45 minutes south and the hospital is 25 minutes north and I have to keep in mind that a hospital admission is not a wild impossibility.



Shewolf--

If everyone lit just one little candle, what a bright world it would be. Thank you.

Ambulance service to the local hospital would preempt the need for the morning mail.



Let Favorite Stepson worry about Mr Noddy. The Credit Union will be there all day. Someone will see Mr Noddy and FS. Maybe not immediately, but there's no guarantee that a scheduled appt would occur on time even if they were sitting in the middle of the lobby.

Sounds like your happy day is already in the tank. Focus on yourself today. You deserve it.

(((( Noddy ))))

Transfusion?!

Oh dear.

Yes, I agree with JPB -- let stepson earn his "favorite" status. Do what you need to do to take care of yourself -- I'm glad you'll have a bit of a respite, anyway.

JPB--

The trouble with commandeering the friendly, neighborhood ambulance (where we have frequent flier miles) is that it leaves Mr. Noddy unsupervised with the C-A-R.

I do not want him driving me home from the hospital--or for that matter driving to the hospital.

Also, unless a hospital admission is Officially Necessary--in which case Social Services will cope--Mr. Noddy cannot be left on his lonesome.

Happy Day is in the tank, but there are two or three happy hours coming up and I intend to rear back and be happy all by my lonesome.

Driving to the lab is not a problem. Driving is not a weight bearing exercise requiring extra oxygen and nutrients to be transported to the extremities.

Walking to the car is challenging, but possible. Walking from handicapped parking to the lab is challenging, but possible.

Once I'm through the doors to the lab, I'm their problem.

Soz--

Transfusions are great. Second-hand red blood cells beat having no red blood cells any day of the week.

If I get a transfusion, I can consider taking on a very small wildcat--with gloves, of course, under the circumstances.

Hey Noddy

Oh.... we are the Nil Energy Girls.....

but you know something.... you inspire me! Just now, I tried to make myself move... HA - joke.... body just won't do it! So, not gonna feel guilty - just not going to do anything and will join you resting.

I love the way you talk - even when you vent or have your petulent moments (as you call them) you bring a smile without realising the respect and admiration you have from one and all here. Bless you girl. Go and relax ... and enjoy a few minutes "lonesome" time. Good on you Noddy. x

Ain't she fab?

The dame's got style.

Oh, yeah.

Izzie, Soz, Tai Chai--

Many thanks for the kind words.

Favorite Stepson not only dealt with Dear Old Dad and the Credit Union, but with Dear Old Dad and the Chevrolet Dealer (and the salesman who nearly wept as the $2000 Service Contract was cancelled.)

My doctor's office messed up on the paperwork for red cell counts, but the gal at the lab went the extra mile (and took extra, unauthorized blood) to possibly save me a second trip. People are kind.

The fly in the buttermilk is that Mr. Noddy insisted on taking the car to run over in tourist traffic for some fairly complicate errands, but at least we're paying 2% lower financing.

Serenity is sometimes challenging.

Hold your dominion.

I'm troubled, Noddy, by your apparent choice between keeping your troubled husband out of the car and getting to get extremely needed medical help for yourself. Sort of Catch-fill in our ages. To be generalizing, let's say Catch-39.

I hope you can bypass (indeed I want you to choose for yourself if such a conundrum happens, at least in the present scenario risks vary and yours is quite immediate) that with help of neighbors, sons of varied sorts, or emergency personnel. Maybe VNA whether or not reimbursed, if they would watch him for the nonce.

You don't want me candle placing, as I'm apt to trip, and then where would we all be.

Hmmm, take the keys on the way for a transfusion? So not my business. Thinking in case of conundrum.

Osso--

Life is full of trade-offs and most of these exchanges are not completely satisfactory.

I aim to solve one crisis at a time--or if not solve, survive.

One step forward, two steps back.

The blood work snafu has been straightened out. The blood sample was not too old. My "anemia" will or will not be official by this time tomorrow--maybe sooner.

I had a letter from the hospital. My mammogram last week was "abnormal". I have a call into my oncologist to find out whether this is my usual normal-abnormal or a new and different sort of abnormal.

I took a nasty fall in the kitchen this morning, fortunately breaking no bones, but I have a skinned arm and some spectacular facial bruises. This is better than broken bones but Positive Thinking is challenging right now.

Mr. Noddy is driving, but when he left the house he was tracking relatively well. His list of self-appointed errands is not complicated.

Local strawberries are tasty.

Ay-yi-yi.

Can your son and D-I-L come and visit again sometime very soon? There really seems to be a need for more assistance than you have at hand right now.

So much going on. I sure hope that the abnormality turns out to be normally abnormal.

Echoing that ay-yi-yi.

Candles, crossed fingers, special thoughts, and warm wishes all headed your way, noddy.