ANYTHING GOOD TO REPORT?

This is the longest the blog has stayed quiet in quite some time.

A trip in the desert was just what I needed right now. Knowing that
Mom is in a safe place and relatively stable let me clear my mind and
just travel for a few days without calling Dad more then every two
days. As I traveled I thought a great deal about the history and
memories my family has out in the desert. My trip took me on a large
triangle from the Bay Area to LA to Vegas to Salt Lake and then
across to Reno and back home. I realized very early in the trip that
ever single road I would travel would be a road that our family had
traveled in the past on one of our many trips across the desert over
the years. In Utah I traveled north on Hwy 89 and I just relaxed
with the flow of travel on a two lane road instead of on the freeway.
Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capital Reef and Cedar Breaks passed by and with
the miles my mind and heart and soul began to relax and enjoy the
scene rather then hurting for what was, but is no longer to be.

Dad is up at Redwood campground with Janet and Lester this weekend.
No, camp meeting is not for several weeks but they are just visiting.
This is the first weekend he has really gotten away since this phase
started. Yes, I was out in So. Cal and Utah for ten days and while it
was a truly great trip and time to get away and just see some country
and wave the college flag at camp meeting I was certainly glad to
return safe home.

Mom is stable. Dad and I went to see her last Monday, the day I
returned, she is wheelchair bound and probably will be for some time
(forever?). She is also medicated to some level to reduce her
agitation and for the first time I could tell the meds were affecting
and reducing what ever connection she might have had with the people
around, like Dad and I. And yet, probably for the best.... dunno.

I find myself thinking that if the first center in Clearlake would
have worked with Dad on a light medication to reduce her agitation
then this whole detour through Petaluma and a cracked hip might not
have happened. But that is past and here we are.

Dad has started the process of gaining approval to return her to
Clearlake. The facility director and physical therapist' and doctors
have approved the move and now we wait a week or two for a "bed".
Probably move after the 4th. I find it strangely sad that our family
hopes for a bed and to get that bed some other family will probably
have a death in the family. Sad and strange.

Her walking days may be over.

Welcome to the Future

The entire family, Mark, Linda and I, joined Dad in visiting Mom
yesterday.

We were at the nursing home for just less then an hour and while my
stresses had been building for a whole day before the visit, the
visit calmed me and gave me a peace that I had been missing.

Dad, just the other way around, he was so wound up by the end of the
visit that he just wanted to get out of the place.

Mom is sitting up in a wheelchair, she has a foam bridge across her
lap as a restraint and she has torn and pulled at the foam cover
until it is just a torn mess covered in a sheet. When she first saw
Linda and Mark and I walking down the hall she started to cry and was
so pleased to see us. Gave us hugs and was very warm and connected
off and on for about three minutes. Mark unlocked her chair and
pushed her up and down the hall while Dad spoke with the charge nurse
and got a copy of her care plan and prescription plan.

We all settled in the small "front room" with comfortable chairs and
music and a cage of parakeets. Linda commented later that facilities
like this need more stimulus like, more birds, fish tanks, big TV's
with nature pictures, anything to create quite stimulus for the
patients. Dad commented that such things would help Mom very little
since she had always left the room when he had the TV on at home.
This after her earlier confusion regarding wether the faces on the TV
were actually guest in her home.

So we visited and sat in a circle and Mom chatted in ten to fifteen
second topics that ranged from wanting a drink to many, many thoughts
that she would start and then would just leave hanging as she seemed
to forget what the beginning thought was that she started with. Mom
has no memory of her fall, her hospital visit, the ambulance rides, X-
rays or any discomfort. She said she has been walking up and down the
halls but actually has only taken a few steps with the therapist. She
interacted with Linda and I more then with Dad and it seemed she was
oblivious to him after her first greetings to him. He pushed just a
little to ask her "what is my name..." which she was not able to
answer. I agree with Linda that even though she has much trouble with
names she was much comforted by faces and voices that she does know
and remember on some level.

I thought the visit went very well. Linda wheeled Mom back to the
nursing station and left her there, fiddling with her lap sheet and
there was no emotion in parting. Dad has a very emotional response to
the parting and gets torn up if Mom tugs at him and says, "don't go"
OR "don't leave me here". None of that this time and I do not know if
it is because of changes, medication or just what.....

So, on to her medical assessment.

The cynic in me comments, "so this is the end of a life lived as a
vegetarian, vegan, no smoking, no drinking, one husband, plenty of
exercise, no weight issues, this is the results of a healthy life?"

Her medical plan is designed to address the following diagnosis:

Pelvis fracture
Wegner's Granulomatosis
Alzheimer's Dementia
Dementia with agitated features
Anemia, non specific
Renal Insufficiency, Kidney disease
Leg Edema
Osteopenia
Vasculitis in legs
Osteoporosis

Not such a nice list of problems and issues.

But she is in good hands, in a safe place and she is finally on
several "calming medications" that seem to be helping with her
previous extreme agitation.

And then a broken hip

Where did this strange little saga leave off?

Mom was transfered to an ambulatory Alzheimer's unit last Thursday.
She settled in wonderfully and late Friday night or early Saturday
morning she fell and broke her hip. She was scheduled to have initial
x-rays completed on site but later on Saturday she was transported to
Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital where she is resting right now.

After further x-ray diagnostics it was determined that her pelvis is
cracked, her femur is fine and there will be no surgery. But she has
been a very agitated patient and she pulled out the first IV line
placed in her arm so she is now mildly sedated plus some morphine for
the pain. Even though she is eating and drinking her anemia is still
high and she was given two units of blood to increase her blood
pressure and total blood volume.

Dad and I went over and visited the hospital on Sunday morning and
Mom was sleeping after a very difficult night with IV's and such. The
nursing staff was wonderful to Dad and I in explaining her situation
and later the doctor called Dad and gave him an update. She is
scheduled to return to the care center on Tuesday and she will now be
placed in a standard three bed, non-locked wing of the facility and
chances are her ambulatory days of wandering off are over.

Dad is coming to grips with the changes and it would be nice if
things would just stay stable for a few days.