Hello everyone,
Sorry I have not been a good correspondent lately. Have been busy, (but mostly in my head) and just have not sat down to pull together thoughts about how we are doing. Alz. is such a rollercoaster. Three steps into decline, then two steps to the positive. You keep trying to anticipate needs, adjust the emotions and effort levels to meet those, but each day or week keeps bringing more surprises. It was also sad to have lost our cousin Kimmie.. What a vibrant lady she ahd been! Tom, Paul and Steve attended her funeral. Mary and I thought we should hang here, as things were a bit touch-and-go with Mom around that time.
Today, Mom seems to be fairly static in her declined functioning. She is very unresponsive, though she will open her eyes if we insist (just to see if she can). She is again not able to swallow, as she was over Memorial Day weekend. She has lost a great deal of weight due to being too tired to eat, or too disinterested. Our dear Mom may be on her way home for real this time, and we will be so happy for her when she does not have to endure more. We shall keep you posted. When she does pass away and we end up finalizing funeral arrangements, we are going to try for a Saturday, if possible. This could facilitate travel for a lot of people or make it easier for those who are working M-F to attend.
Steve and Kathy were here over the past weekend, and it was great having them around. Steve and Tom did some maintenance involving tall ladders (thank you so much!-I was not excited about climbing up there myself!!!). Kathy kept the laundry and dishwasher humming, in addition to being our supportive geriatric nurse consultant.
Last week, Susan and Mary Parsley came to visit. I know it was emotionally, and physically difficult for Mary, as she is still recovering from her hip surgery. Mom was awake, but sort of in her own world during the time they were here. We were hoping for a lucid window, and though that did not appear. She was able to smile several times, and I feel that Mom was aware, on some level, of the love between them.
The last two weeks we have been going through boxes and boxes of old photos. Surprisingly, we came across some that none of us remember ever seeing, such as portraits of our Fallon grandparents and great-grandparents, snaps of Mom and Dad during dating years, interesting events such as a skating party on the pond at the Sutton farm, with JJ (I think) in his Army uniform. There are several of young women all dressed up in the latest fashions (which they probably sewed themselves), standing in a row on the bottom step of the front porch of Gramma and Grampa Sutton's house.
There is a lovely 5 x 7 of an outdoor breakfast served by Nel Hartwig after a morning horse ride. Mom is wearing a pretty striped dress, and helping to set food out on a table. Looks as if it was a beautiful day. Nel is the professor from SDSU that introduced Mom and Dad. I wonder if Mom went riding....hmmm. Nel is outfitted in jodpurs and knee boots, ever the horsewoman. From the stories I have heard, she had enough personality for 5 people.
Sarah Arnold is making a photo slideshow for us so that we can share some of these little gems.
OK, my loved ones, time to get going and pull some things together. Tommy and I are going to try to represent at an art fair at Harrisburg on Saturday. We will have to see how things go on the homefront first, but we will still try to be ready in case it works out that we can go.
Take care of yourselves, and we will keep you posted.
Love,
Annie and all the Fallon kids
No comments:
Post a Comment