Swimpy--
I'll keep my fingers crossed for your m-i-l. Unadmitted deafness is a curse for the rest of the family.
Phoenix--
Just like your mother to hang onto her earwax. Congratulations to you for remembering the small problem in the middle of a major one. You're certainly oriented in time and space.
Gus--
My younger son died in a holiday accident ten years ago. He flatlined on Christmas Day, but was kept on the respirator so his organs could be harvested.
Untimely death can never be completely understood--just grimly accepted and wistfully remembered.
Hold your dominion.
Phoenix, I was there when my aunt was in the hospital on her death bed. When the nurse came out to say that she had died, my uncle jumped up and demanded that they try to ressucitate. Later the nurse told me that all they accomplished was to break two of her ribs. At the last minute, he forgot about her wishes and instinctively insisted that she be kept alive. If any of my relatives did that to me I'd come back and haunt them relentlessly.
Noddy, yours is one of the most beautiful posts I've read. You have a way of being absolutely down to earth and sensitive at the same time.
{{{{{ Noddy }}}}}
{{{{{ Gus }}}}}
Diane--
Thanks for the kind words.
I'm sorry if I triggered painful memories, Gus and Noddy. Losing a loved one is so hard.
Swimpy--
This time of year is always painful for me. Good friends, like you, are a comfort.
For the Record:
I did not hide the roll of $.39 stamps. It is in the left hand, top drawer of my desk where it has been for the last 12 years.
I never indicated I wanted a maroon reclining chair for the living room. Maroon has always been a color I dislike.
We need to hang four bird feeders. Therefore I asked for four hooks, not three.
A sweet potato has about 175 more calories than an Idaho potato. I never said they were equal in calories.
There is extra asparagus in the refrigerator--not cauliflower. I never said that there was cauliflower in the refrigerator.
All this, before lunchtime.
Mental decline and dependency
Well, it's variety, anyway...
Tomkitten--
Pity we don't live close enough to husband swap for a week. I bet we'd be glad to trade back.
Perhaps I'll start a Eye-Catching chart: Degrees of Paranoia.
Oh, Noddy, what you are going through, and you always manage to keep your sharp wit and sense of humor. What can I say? I think that you deserve a medal. At least, with my mother, I can walk away from it for a time.
Phoenix--
Thanks for the kind words. Mr. Noddy, a long term diabetic with impaired kidney function, has just been diagnosed with gout.
Mr. Noddy is feeling Hard Done By.
Mr. Noddy is manifesting a Contentious Spirit.
Ho! Ho! Humbug!
Mr. Noddy feels that I must take a major part of the responsibility for his gout because of wimping out when he demanded that some of his chicken, turkey and fish be replaced by beef, pork and sausage.
I am sorely tempted to buy him a barrel of vintage port and catch the bus to NYC.
Hey Noddy girl, want to run away to the Big Apple? I'll meet you there! :wink:
Phoenix--
That's the best offer I've had all day!
Big Apple, here we come!
Phoenix--
Mr. Noddy has always been one to give Malign Fate and Nefarious Individuals full credit for misfortunes, but he used to be grounded in reality.
Perhaps it is an uncharted form of osteoporosis--the older he gets, the less spacious and hospitable his broad shoulders become?
I'm thinking of starting a "Wicked Women Runningawayfromhome for the Holidays" thread. Do you want to play?
For me, yesterday was the day from hell. I took Mr. P. in for his prostate seeding procedure. He had not been feeling well for awhile, probably due to the radiation. He had a nasty case of Montezuma's Revenge for a couple of weeks, and had dropped quite a bit if weight. I was scared that the accompaning dehydration would compromise his electrolyte balance, which does not mix well with anaesthesia.
Anyhow, the procedure went along swimmingly, and within a few hours, he was ready to go home. I, on the other hand, was like a damp wash rag. I think that tension of possibly impending widowhood had taken its toll on me. I am not much of a drinker, but I announced that I planned to get drunk.
Anyhow, I had just started my imbibing, and decided to get into my pjs. I am standing, with my jeans around my knees, when the phone rings. It is the ALF. Seems that my mother took a flop in the bathroom, and they were sending her to the ER to check for a hip fracture.
I waited awhile to go to the hospital, as they never let you in to see the patient, until the medical staff has "done its thing". I was able to see her right away. She did not seem to be in any distress, but was very confused.
I had known about the phenomenon of "sundowning", but had never experienced it with my mother, because I always visit with her during the day. For those who are unfamiliar with it, apparently, because of fatigue, people with Alzheimer's tend to be far less lucid later in the day and evening. Her functioning was at a much lower level than I had ever observed. Because of my own fatigue, I found it extremely difficult to deal with.
The long and short of it, was trhat I was in the hospital from 7:30 to 11:30. It ended up that she did NOT have any fractures. She was just bumped and bruised a bit.
She has fallen in the past. When she was more "together", she was able to tell the staff that she was ok, and would refuse to go to the hospital. Now she had become so passive, and had to go through the trauma and drama of the ER, All for naught.
I am between a rock and a hard place. I think that the hospital is very traumatic for her, and needs to be avoided at all costs. On the other hand,
I would not want her to be sitting around with an undiagnosed hip fracture.
I really don't know what the answer is.
Phoenix--
Today will be your day to be you--not wife, not daughter.
Double Shift hospital sitting earns you many, many stars in your crown.
Hold your dominion.
Phoenix--
At sunset tonight, you're supposed to be sitting on the porch sipping a vodka and tonic.
Remember.
Noddy- I had lost a lot of pictures when my hard drive died because I hadn't made disks of all of them. Tomorrow I will take myself to Busch Gardens, drink as much of the free beer that I can get away with, and take some replacement pictures. This time, they will go immediately to disk!
