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