Hi to everyone! Well, Mom has progressed well and much to our suprise she will return home on Saturday! Yes, this Saturday March 26. She will come to the house tomorrow(Thursday) with OT/PT staff to determine what changes need to be made, besides those already made. Susan ans I will be there on Saturday, and I think Scott, along with Earl and possibly Cindy Lamberty, who has been there all week. I will stay for a few/several days. Sharon may be coming for a few days. This discharge day came much faster than we anticipated so we're still getting organized! Give us a bit to get Mom settled then visit when you are in the area and or when you have time. Love to all, especally "The Dish"!
-Stephena
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Annie, I hope I have done this correctly and thanks for the chance to participate! Mom's address is 612 Wicklow Lane, Brookings, SD 57006 (The lady has lived in the same house for 50 plus years with four different addresses!)
I spent from Monday until noon today (Fri) with Mom. She is doing marvelously well! Today she was "transferred" from acute care to "swing bed" status. (No room change.) No, her bed does not swing! It means only that she is no longer in need of acute care but does need rehabilitation. She is working with both PT and OT in preparation for going home. We have heard from two weeks to 20 days. I am betting on two weeks or less. And then to home. Mom had surgery on Monday (3/14), a replacement of the ball of the hip joint. She was full weight bearing when they got her up on Wednesday, which went fairly well. Thursday she needed two units of blood (she insisted she wanted Irish blood only), and then there was no stopping her. She walked fifty feet Thursday and did some grueling exercises as well as beginning with Occupational Therapy (dressing, etc.). Friday she repeated the fifty feet and exercises in the morning then did about 200 feet and exercises in the afternoon.
I would give all of you her direct phone number but she has many visitors and phone calls and she really needs to work on rehab! When she goes home Susan, Sheila, Scott, Val, Stacia, Sharon
and I will work a rotation to be with her 24 hours a day for a while at least. We/she would be glad to have you visit any time (without charge for use of facilities Tom!) And she certainly loves to get cards.
Annie, thank you again for being allowed to participate!
I spent from Monday until noon today (Fri) with Mom. She is doing marvelously well! Today she was "transferred" from acute care to "swing bed" status. (No room change.) No, her bed does not swing! It means only that she is no longer in need of acute care but does need rehabilitation. She is working with both PT and OT in preparation for going home. We have heard from two weeks to 20 days. I am betting on two weeks or less. And then to home. Mom had surgery on Monday (3/14), a replacement of the ball of the hip joint. She was full weight bearing when they got her up on Wednesday, which went fairly well. Thursday she needed two units of blood (she insisted she wanted Irish blood only), and then there was no stopping her. She walked fifty feet Thursday and did some grueling exercises as well as beginning with Occupational Therapy (dressing, etc.). Friday she repeated the fifty feet and exercises in the morning then did about 200 feet and exercises in the afternoon.
I would give all of you her direct phone number but she has many visitors and phone calls and she really needs to work on rehab! When she goes home Susan, Sheila, Scott, Val, Stacia, Sharon
and I will work a rotation to be with her 24 hours a day for a while at least. We/she would be glad to have you visit any time (without charge for use of facilities Tom!) And she certainly loves to get cards.
Annie, thank you again for being allowed to participate!
Health and Wellness Report
Dear Family,
I am behind on what's happening in the family. There are a couple of people needing extra prayers right now, Linda Fallon and our aunt Mary Parsley.
I have written about Linda a couple of times, but here is the latest update, an email from Kevin.
Many of you have already gotten this, but I don't think he has all the addresses for nieces and nephews, so posting here.
"Hello Every one,
We got the Oncologist report back today there definitely was not any cancer in the lymph node and things came out pretty clean with the lumpectomy and it sounds like the treatment is going to be Radiation and hormone therapy, no chemo, we will know more when we go to the surgeon on Friday. Linda is in a little discomfort yet and cannot do anything physical for the next week and a half. Thanks for all your Prayers. Prayer does work.
Love Linda and Kevin"
In addition, you may not have heard that Mary Parsley fell and broke her hip. It will be 2 weeks ago this Sunday that it happened. She had surgery the day after, and we heard that she would be in the hospital for 10 days to 2 weeks. She may be home by now, or perhaps that will be in the next few days. Nevertheless, she faces some very tough recovery time and could use all the cheering up she can get.
Shoot! Can't find Gram's address book to give you Mary's address. In my book, I have her old one with a box number, before her street became Wicklow Lane. So here is a pasted-together version, without her house number. I am pretty sure it will still get there:
Mary Parsley
______Wicklow Lane
Brookings, SD 57006
Steph, if you see this, could you send me the correct address via email? I will get you set up to have posting rights here so that you could add other Parsley family news whenever you feel like it! Could you give us an update on how your mom is doing? I could call Brookings, but I am sure that phone is ringing off the hook and the people answering it are exhausted with telling Mary's news.
OK-have to get going. Volunteering at DayBreak today! Fun!
Love You,
Annie
I am behind on what's happening in the family. There are a couple of people needing extra prayers right now, Linda Fallon and our aunt Mary Parsley.
I have written about Linda a couple of times, but here is the latest update, an email from Kevin.
Many of you have already gotten this, but I don't think he has all the addresses for nieces and nephews, so posting here.
"Hello Every one,
We got the Oncologist report back today there definitely was not any cancer in the lymph node and things came out pretty clean with the lumpectomy and it sounds like the treatment is going to be Radiation and hormone therapy, no chemo, we will know more when we go to the surgeon on Friday. Linda is in a little discomfort yet and cannot do anything physical for the next week and a half. Thanks for all your Prayers. Prayer does work.
Love Linda and Kevin"
In addition, you may not have heard that Mary Parsley fell and broke her hip. It will be 2 weeks ago this Sunday that it happened. She had surgery the day after, and we heard that she would be in the hospital for 10 days to 2 weeks. She may be home by now, or perhaps that will be in the next few days. Nevertheless, she faces some very tough recovery time and could use all the cheering up she can get.
Shoot! Can't find Gram's address book to give you Mary's address. In my book, I have her old one with a box number, before her street became Wicklow Lane. So here is a pasted-together version, without her house number. I am pretty sure it will still get there:
Mary Parsley
______Wicklow Lane
Brookings, SD 57006
Steph, if you see this, could you send me the correct address via email? I will get you set up to have posting rights here so that you could add other Parsley family news whenever you feel like it! Could you give us an update on how your mom is doing? I could call Brookings, but I am sure that phone is ringing off the hook and the people answering it are exhausted with telling Mary's news.
OK-have to get going. Volunteering at DayBreak today! Fun!
Love You,
Annie
Thursday, March 10, 2011
News of Linda's surgery and followup
Hi everyone,
Kevin called tonight to talk about how their day at the hospital went.They are exhausted, and I asked if I could put an update on the blog for him. He agreed, and said he will also get some emails out tomorrow, but does not have all the addresses that we have for the blog.
Today Linda had a biopsy of the suspicious spot on the lymph node, and it was negative! She then had the lumpectomy, and is home now. It will be a tough few days, their surgeon said.
The breast tissue was sent to the oncologist. Next week, they will see the surgeon and the radiology specialist. Linda will have radiation and/or chemotherapy, if I understand it correctly, depending upon what the oncologist finds.
We are keeping you in our prayers, Linda and Kevin!
If you don't have their mailing address, it is:
7288 South Iris Court
Littleton, CO 80128
Annie
Kevin called tonight to talk about how their day at the hospital went.They are exhausted, and I asked if I could put an update on the blog for him. He agreed, and said he will also get some emails out tomorrow, but does not have all the addresses that we have for the blog.
Today Linda had a biopsy of the suspicious spot on the lymph node, and it was negative! She then had the lumpectomy, and is home now. It will be a tough few days, their surgeon said.
The breast tissue was sent to the oncologist. Next week, they will see the surgeon and the radiology specialist. Linda will have radiation and/or chemotherapy, if I understand it correctly, depending upon what the oncologist finds.
We are keeping you in our prayers, Linda and Kevin!
If you don't have their mailing address, it is:
7288 South Iris Court
Littleton, CO 80128
Annie
Monday, March 7, 2011
Hi again-surprise! Two posts in one week.
Yesterday was neat. Mary Parsley and Steph and Earl K. stopped in for a visit on their way to the Summit basketball tournament at the arena. They were going to root for SDSU, of course!
Mary looks fabulous, as always, and says she and Juanita are still very busy with orders for their beautiful textile art. She went to Hawaii in Feb. with Sheila, staying with Shaun on Maui. She had fun, but picked up bronchitis along the way, and spent many weeks recovering from that after she got home. Thankfully, she says she is at the tail end of that.
It was good to get caught up with Steph and Earl and the news of their family, too. Their son, Will, got married and lives in Lincoln now. More Nebraska connection!
Mom's friend, Donna Hicks, came over today. Mom was in a quiet phase, but she was a good listener. Donna asked her to sing 'When Irish Eyes Are Smiling", and Mom DID! She got through the whole first chorus (stanza? section?) with no mistakes, and in beautiful voice. It was wonderful! I have not heard her sing by herself and remember all the words in a long time. It was a cool moment, and a testimony to their friendship, I think.
Mom is walking so much better this week. We are walking more than using the wheelchair now. Previously, when she was off the memory meds, Mom had a lot of trouble accessing her feet. They seemed to be 'stuck' on the floor, and we had problems pivoting from, ie. bed to chair.
She now also remembers that she needs to turn around as she approaches a chair or the bed, so that she can sit. That had kind of disappeared for a while.
Bedtime is still tough, off and on. The last 3 days have been a mystery. Friday night, I don't think Mom slept an hour. I tried the different prescriptions she has for sleeping and also for pain.
In the morning, I thought maybe the memory meds that we restarted are now beginning to help her sleep again, and the anti-insomnia med (which we started while OFF the memory meds) was too much, perhaps making her feel restless.
So then, Saturday night, I did not give Mom the anti-insomnia meds. She slept like the proverbial, very happy baby. (She was sleeping so well, I could not get her out of bed until almost NOON! on Sunday. Well, that's not entirely true. I could have gotten her up, but she was NOT happy about that possibility, the times that I attempted this. Chalked it up to making up for Friday night.)
But, AhHA! I thought. That's it!! We will skip the sleeping med! At bedtime Sunday night I held it back again. Strangely, we had another night like Friday night.
Our hospice nurse came today and we hashed all this out. We are going to try just the pain med by itself. That is the only plan we have not tried yet. If we don't have a good night, I will call them tomorrow and we will come up with a new plan.
It is getting a little trickier figuring out what Mom needs, as she is having a harder time telling us what is wrong. We just keep trying different options. Hospice has been very good, and I know they will keep trying to help us work out the details.
Okeedokee.....I need to get going. Talk to you later!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Liz just wrote me that she was looking for this blog, typed in trishthedish.net, and found a site for a buxom mature Florida woman who is a model of provocative poses.
LOLs all over the place! Secret lives.....
In real life, things with Gram are slowly declining. It is amazing how many steps there are to declining...It's OK though. She speaks a few intelligible words, and sometimes has a long yarn to tell. The story seems to be loosely connected bits and pieces of real or imagined memories, but try as hard as I may, I cannot follow the threads. Some of the times when I can understand her well are when she seems to have visions or sightings of people that I can't see. "Who is that little boy?" she will often ask, keeping her eyes focused on a certain spot on the wall or drapes. I ask her what he looks like, what color is his hair. She says it's red, sort of dark. I seem to lose her when I ask what he is wearing. It is so odd that I can't usually understand her speech except when these things happen. Kind of cool and interesting.
Most of the time, Gram can transfer pretty well from one chair to another, to and from bed, etc.
Kathy Fallon taught us a couple of techniques that helped a lot., when she and Steve were here last weekend. We also had some good talks and she shared a lot of other insights into eldercare, what it was like when she and her siblings cared for their mom, and so on. It was invaluable. Thank you so much, Kathy!
Gram can feed herself at least half of the time. Breakfast is usually her best time for that. Also, if the meal is something that she likes a lot, she does well. If the texture or taste or something else is not quite agreeing with her, we help her get the protein at least, then supplement with yogurt, pudding, Nutrigrain bars, etc. She also loves applesauce, pineapple, and bananas.
Some days Gram can ambulate very well with her walker, some days she can't maintain upright posture by herself. I have taken to sleeping with her every night, with her bed pushed up into the corner to help her stay in bed. She was getting out of bed by herself at night, and falling. (She only got as much as a bruise, once, otherwise did not seem to be hurt. There is the potential for her to break a hip or something else, so we will do what we can.) Now if she tires to get out of bed, she has to climb over me, or scoot out the end of the bed, which she has figured out pretty well! I usually put her wheelchair or other stuff there in order to give myself more time to wake up and catch her if she tries to get out that way. Most nights now, she only wakes up once, so that is not so bad. She just wants to go to the bathroom, so we both go, and that saves me getting up on my own later. That makes it a cooperative effort!
We could really use help caring for Mom the weekend of May 28th, when I will be gone to Alex's graduation. We have the hospice respite facilities on standby if we have to use them, but think Mom would do better if she could stay home. If anyone has time then, that would be so appreciated. We would need a female person to help Gram in the bathroom and with dressing. We could probably get a person from hospice to help with bathing, because there are more opportunities for falling then.
Let us know if you have any time to help out then. Paul and Tommy can sit with Gram, but don't do bathroom or dressing duty.
I will be flying out on Friday AM about 6 AM, and returning Mon. night about 11 PM.
Mary would take Mom for that weekend, but Rachael's baby is due the next week. You just never know! Randy will be out of town, so she needs to be available to go to Omaha if BG Wilmeth decides to make her appearance then!
On another note. if you have not heard, our sister Linda Fallon was diagnosed with breast cancer last week. It is a stage 0, which is good news. Today they met with her surgeon to find out more, but I have not heard how that went. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers as they go through this.
Linda's email is: godblessit@hotmail.com
Kevin's is :kjamesfallon@msn.com
Okee-dokee, everybody. I should sign off and get going to other things. Take care, and thanks again for you calls and help!
Love, Gram and Annie
LOLs all over the place! Secret lives.....
In real life, things with Gram are slowly declining. It is amazing how many steps there are to declining...It's OK though. She speaks a few intelligible words, and sometimes has a long yarn to tell. The story seems to be loosely connected bits and pieces of real or imagined memories, but try as hard as I may, I cannot follow the threads. Some of the times when I can understand her well are when she seems to have visions or sightings of people that I can't see. "Who is that little boy?" she will often ask, keeping her eyes focused on a certain spot on the wall or drapes. I ask her what he looks like, what color is his hair. She says it's red, sort of dark. I seem to lose her when I ask what he is wearing. It is so odd that I can't usually understand her speech except when these things happen. Kind of cool and interesting.
Most of the time, Gram can transfer pretty well from one chair to another, to and from bed, etc.
Kathy Fallon taught us a couple of techniques that helped a lot., when she and Steve were here last weekend. We also had some good talks and she shared a lot of other insights into eldercare, what it was like when she and her siblings cared for their mom, and so on. It was invaluable. Thank you so much, Kathy!
Gram can feed herself at least half of the time. Breakfast is usually her best time for that. Also, if the meal is something that she likes a lot, she does well. If the texture or taste or something else is not quite agreeing with her, we help her get the protein at least, then supplement with yogurt, pudding, Nutrigrain bars, etc. She also loves applesauce, pineapple, and bananas.
Some days Gram can ambulate very well with her walker, some days she can't maintain upright posture by herself. I have taken to sleeping with her every night, with her bed pushed up into the corner to help her stay in bed. She was getting out of bed by herself at night, and falling. (She only got as much as a bruise, once, otherwise did not seem to be hurt. There is the potential for her to break a hip or something else, so we will do what we can.) Now if she tires to get out of bed, she has to climb over me, or scoot out the end of the bed, which she has figured out pretty well! I usually put her wheelchair or other stuff there in order to give myself more time to wake up and catch her if she tries to get out that way. Most nights now, she only wakes up once, so that is not so bad. She just wants to go to the bathroom, so we both go, and that saves me getting up on my own later. That makes it a cooperative effort!
We could really use help caring for Mom the weekend of May 28th, when I will be gone to Alex's graduation. We have the hospice respite facilities on standby if we have to use them, but think Mom would do better if she could stay home. If anyone has time then, that would be so appreciated. We would need a female person to help Gram in the bathroom and with dressing. We could probably get a person from hospice to help with bathing, because there are more opportunities for falling then.
Let us know if you have any time to help out then. Paul and Tommy can sit with Gram, but don't do bathroom or dressing duty.
I will be flying out on Friday AM about 6 AM, and returning Mon. night about 11 PM.
Mary would take Mom for that weekend, but Rachael's baby is due the next week. You just never know! Randy will be out of town, so she needs to be available to go to Omaha if BG Wilmeth decides to make her appearance then!
On another note. if you have not heard, our sister Linda Fallon was diagnosed with breast cancer last week. It is a stage 0, which is good news. Today they met with her surgeon to find out more, but I have not heard how that went. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers as they go through this.
Linda's email is: godblessit@hotmail.com
Kevin's is :kjamesfallon@msn.com
Okee-dokee, everybody. I should sign off and get going to other things. Take care, and thanks again for you calls and help!
Love, Gram and Annie
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