Today, mom will be fitted for her new dentures.
Yesterday, I went to both of her banks to get official Power of Attorney. There was no problem at Washington Mutual, but the rat bastards at Union Bank of California, said I needed their form notarized, the official one I already had wouldn’t do. I was looking into this to find out exactly how much money mom has in her accounts so I know which to write checks on (her rent, cable, telephone and the upcoming ones for a medical alert system and to pay someone to stay with her). On her UBOC account, the retirement check is a direct deposit, one hundred dollars goes into her checking account, the rest into savings. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be needing to draw money out of the savings to help pay some of the upcoming bills.
Well, I did sign her up for online banking, the info should be in her mailbox this week and I can hopefully transfer funds that way. She can still sign the checks.
She walked better yesterday, didn’t need to stop so many times to catch her breath. I was told the day before she got angry with the workers there. Because one of the RNs made her get out of bed and walk down the hallway. I was glad to hear this, really. Something that concerned me was the fact that she seemed a little phlegmy, so I asked her doctor, who just happened to be at the station desk, if he could look at her.
She was okay, he felt that maybe she had allergies, because her lungs were clear and her glands were fine. He talked about her progress, how well she was doing. This just pleased mom to no end. She put both of her arms up in victory and had both thumbs up at the same time. It was really cute. He said she was all over the place, not needing any help.
I did ask him about a stronger appetite stimulant for her and he shook his head. He said they’re out there, but any of the side effects would be major bad for mom and we’re not taking any chances. And we talked about the pain in her back, he said “no pain killers or muscle relaxers” and mentioned that the doctor who prescribed them for mom originally didn’t seem to take into consideration she was dealing with a senior and not an 18 year old. (I’m going to keep that comment in mind for possible future use. I’m good at letter writing.)
He said that she would probably do well in assisted care, she’s in too good of shape for board and care. I told him what we wanted to do, to get someone to stay with her for four hours a day, probably three days a week (every day for two weeks to begin with) and also have one of the available medical alert systems. I really think her mind will get better in her home environment. And she’s walking as good (if not better) at the facility as she was at home. He said she should do okay as long as she didn’t go back to her old ways (not eating and drinking).
She was disappointed when I was leaving, she asked would I come back for her. I just looked at her and told her “no, you don’t go home today” and I showed her on the calendar when she did get to go home. I put a little kitty sticker on it and wrote “HOME!” on that day. So, she has something to look forward to.
She is remembering more. She remembers that she has a dentist visit. She’s starting to care about how she looks. “Those shoes are filthy.” “Do I have something to wear to the dentist?” Things along that line. I asked her about her reading and she said “I love to read, but it’s hard here, there are too many distractions.” A complete thought that made absolute sense. And she’s doing more and more of this every day.
Today, after her dentist visit, since it’s only a fitting and her mouth shouldn’t hurt, I asked if she’d like to grab a cheeseburger and fries on the way back to the facility. She thought about it and said okay, since her mouth wouldn’t be hurting (and I hadn’t mentioned that at all, just another sign that her thought processing is starting to work properly in some areas). She said “we can have a picnic”. I’d have to find a flat outdoor place for this and I couldn’t think of one offhand, so we may just end up back at her room.
The past week, when I leave, she’s said “let me walk you to the door” a couple of times. She gets out of bed and walks with me to the door of the room and says goodbye. Yesterday, I had to wait for wheelchairs and the like to be moved, so I turned around and watched her walking away. She was talking to the woman in the other bed. She said something about me then I heard her say “I don’t know what I’d do without her”. How sweet that was to hear.
She still loves getting the cards. Her focus is getting much better. If you want to send her one and I haven’t sent you her address yet (I know there are a few of you), go ahead and leave a comment and I’ll get the information out to you today when I get home.
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