The elderly

[user 7704]

Thurs when home health was out, Grannys O2 level fluctuated between 82-90. Sat morning when they came back out it was between 58-68. . . Dangerously low. She was transported straight to the hospital where she was put immediately on oxygen. Many test run. She has some heart failure, fluid on the lungs and possibly around the heart. Yesterday morning when I got her up she was dizzy when sitting up, which is not unusual for her periodically. I took her in the bathroom for potty and shower, but she seemed more out of breath just standing, turning around and sitting down on the toilet I skipped the shower and took her for coffee and breakfast. She only ate about half of the two waffles given, which normally eat all because of her sweet tooth, and none of the sausage. She said she was nausiated. She was still speaking as clearly as she normally does. A little after that was her visit from home health.

at the hospital, she was also low in potsium, which she does take a supplement everyday, so not sure how that could happen and we eat a lot of potatoes. There was a time that she had fallen asleep, also not unusual, but she was hard to arouse. That was. We came home last night but are going back to the hospital this morning. We were able to see a doctor twice yesterday, one almost at arrival and a different one who told us what was going on and being admitted. Today I have several questions that I didn't think about asking yesterday.

Hunny called his brother to let him know. He was about to get on a plane in FL to come back to TX. He spent a week at Disney World. I don't know if he plans on driving in now that he is back home. He didn't say. The boys know and are driving in today to visit Granny at the hospital. I am scheduled for inventory tonight, but I called and talked to my boss last night to let her know what is going on. If Granny is stable, I'll go, if not, I will stay at the hospital.

Sorry to hear this. That is a huge drop in oxygen stats. Hopefully it isn't fluid around heart. Hope you get your answers. Write down your questions, so you don't forget them.

 

[Dani]

Sorry to hear this. That is a huge drop in oxygen stats. Hopefully it isn't fluid around heart. Hope you get your answers. Write down your questions, so you don't forget them.

It's not around but in the arterys. She is do I g much better today.

 

[user 7704]

As a change of pace, I have a funny story.

ON Sundays, i cook an early dinner because I have to shave my son and do his "manicures" etc.

I was in the kitchen, and here comes mom going to give her dog a bath in the kitchen sink. I just looked at her and said She would have to wait.

That is so gross, I couldn't believe. After i cooked, I went outside and when I came back, she had cleaned everything so that the sink was empty to wash her rat dog.

 

[Dani]

We thought Granny was coming home tonight. One doctor gave her the clear. . . The other wdidn't which we found out late tonight. Very disappointing. . . He wants another blood oxygen level test run in the morning. She will have a tank to come home with and had already had the guy scheduled to meet us e the house which had to be cancelled. Even her nurse thought it sounded like tonight.

My BIL went to the hospital this morning when we did to just sit with her. My hunny helped feed her breakfast and I did both lunch and dinner. My BILs wife finally showed up at 5:45pm today. . . . To start telling me everything I was doing wrong. And yet she has never taken care of Granny.

This afternoon BIL admitted his wife was scared to have her come spend a weekend. Their solution was to bring an RV to park in our driveway so they are here to "help". I have already explained before we all agreed to this that we can not leave the house for long due to our responsibility to all the animals. The only way I get a break is it I am removed from thesituation, if not, she wants me and me only. . . Granny is comfortable with me and is afraid of the unknown, but unless they give it a try, we will never know. . . . Probably shouldn't have told my brother in law to grow a set of balls and tell his wife I am in need of my own hunny time.

Life is now going to be getting harder. Her compressor will only reach so far which I don't know that distance yet.. Will find out tomorrow. Would be nice if we could place in hallway to reach her bed room, master bath and living room and put far enough back to leave room for her walker with seat so I can still just push her around Trying to keep wheels away from tubings. We will also get small oxygen tanks which I do not know how long they will last. All of my grandkids are an hour and 15 minutes to 3 hours away. If we hit traffic, will be longer. . . Would they be enough for a visit? It is already difficult going since they are not set up for handicapped and everything that is needed to take with wheelchair, walker with seat, change of clothes, special drinking cup, wipes and then extra pull ups and pads. It's just a lot of stuff to pack up. Think baby, but adult sized.

 

[Mountain trapper]

In about 2 weeks I'll be moving my parents stuff to my sister's house. My sister lives in another state about 10 hours away. Once I get their stuff moved I'll dispose of everything they don't take with them, then sell their house.
Hopefully my house will be completed by that time and I can start moving in.

 

[user 7704]

Well, I'm glad you told him to grow a pair. They way you are being used is wrong.

I'm no where near your level, but mom rarely goes home and when she does, it's very hard on my brother who lives next door to her he has to actually do things for her.

He admits it though. He does have major pain from all of the metal in his back and the meds are hard on him.

Mom is going home next Tuesday to get all of her 1000s of clothes and shoes taken care of. She has so much stuff to get rid of. I don't have any more room. She already has more storage than all of us. My daughter is taking lots of the furni1ure for her new house and I may take some.

We will go up with a Uhaul at end of the month and load the rest of stuff. I have a few things from my youth I will bring, but the rest can go to the mission. I am glad to do all of this before she passes and has time to go through and relive her memories.

She's lost 2 husband's and 3 son's plus she's the only child left in her family.i will be hard for her I'm sure.

 

[user 7704]

My septic line was rather clogged so I dug and found the trap door. (Heavy) I uses the auger and snaked out a baseball sized gob of mom's fixodent. It's the only think I can think of that has that texture and isn't water soluble.

What a way to start my day.

 

[user 7704]

Another doctor's appointment for mom. This will be 4 in the last 10 days. We have another on Monday then she's off to KY to clean out her house.

My son is on Fall break next week so I'm happy we can have time not running to another doctor.

 

[Dani]

Granny came home from the hospital late in the night Oct 1st, so BIL stayed with us, sleeping on the couch. I was up at the normal 3 am to get Granny dressed and ready for the day, then put back to bed since I had to go to work. When I got home, she was ok but by that evening she was off again. Back to the ER we went. She was a little dehydrated so given fluids and sent home around 4:30 am on Thur morning. Thursday we had her switched from Home Health to Hospice. She was good until Sunday morning. She had a major diarrhea explosion that morning. She was so weak I had to get my hunny to come and help me move her to the rolling walker after cleaning her up as much as I could while she was in bed still. We have her a shower then went back to the ER. She really didn't want to and I knew better, but my hunny needed it. We were told her heart is just giving out.
Everyone in the family was contacted and they all trickled in. Monday Granny was awake and alert most of the day with most all of the immediate family surrounding her. I even took off work which should say something since the last time was back in 2012 for when my dad passed. She was talking Monday, speaking in what I call tongues since no one could understand her, saying unknown words to us and then breaking out singing 'In the Garden'. All in almost one breath, looking at me and just giving me the biggest grin ever. . . . Three of the boys were here that night and one of their wives that is a nurse practitioner. I did not have to worry about her meds. We had stopped the normal but was giving her comfort drugs that night. I barely slept finally just staying with her at 3 am so son 2 could get some sleep too. On Tues, she never woke again passing at 11:48 am. The hospice nurse got out here around 12:15 to pronounce and get her body ready for transport. my DIL helped with that and since my SIL never took care of Granny while she was alive, I let her do that. Granny was no longer there. . . . It was just her earthly body. I felt like I was there for her when she needed it and feel no regrets. Sheriff came out to make their report too.
So fast forward to today, we finally have everything set to go for a wake tomorrow evening with a service on Sat morning. Burial is at a later date since she wanted to be cremated.

 

[WGregMiller]

Danil,

I’m sorry to hear that, but we all know she is in a much better place.

I’m sure it’s not a lot of help, but we’re thinking about y’all. I hope that knowing you did everything you could for her will help. Now it’s time to take care of yourself.

 

[Dani]

Danil,

I’m sorry to hear that, but we all know she is in a much better place.

I’m sure it’s not a lot of help, but we’re thinking about y’all. I hope that knowing you did everything you could for her will help. Now it’s time to take care of yourself.

Thank you Greg. She was the head of my hunny s world for many years and yes I know that she has loved me for many years now. I have no regrets at all. . . . I know how she felt about me and she knew how I felt about her. Over the last three months we had plenty of time. She had some family treasures from her parents and also her grandparents. I got to record and write down the stories. That means a lot in my little world.

 

[user 7704]

Oh my. I'm so sorry. I honestly didn't know she so close to passing. You know that you went above and beyond . we are all being cremated too.

Get some much needed rest and know you did all you could.

 

[Dani]

Oh my. I'm so sorry. I honestly didn't know she so close to passing. You know that you went above and beyond . we are all being cremated too.

Get some much needed rest and know you did all you could.

I tend to be private in my day to day activities. She had been going downhill since she hit 94 but this last November is when it started to spiral downhill. I thought it would happen soon but you just never know. I have seen many in nursing homes that live almost in a comatose state for years. Honestly it wouldn't have surprised me.

 

[user 7704]

Mom is home cleaning out her house.m so much junk.

But, she hasn't done anything because she's so sick. I think it's the mold and dampness from the house being closed for months at a time.

I'll be glad when it's gone and she's here so that we won't have the back and forth.

 

[DrHenley]

Sounds like she knew she was headed for a better place. I know you will miss her but at least her pain and suffering are gone forever. May she rest in peace.

 

[user 7704]

Someone please come and shoot me to get me out of this pain.

Went to KY early and daughter and her husband followed with a large Uhaul.

I go into the house and the china cabinet was still full and all of the bedroom chest were full of clothes. What has she been doing the last 3 weeks she was supposed to be cleaning out everything?

I had to start packing and loading and my back is gone.

One bit of good news is that the chicken that was missing was here when I got home. I have no idea where it was last night.

 

[Mountain trapper]

It warmed up to above freezing for a couple days last week and we finished painting my parents house. We listed it with a realtor on Friday and got an offer yesterday. The offer was a little low so we'll make a counter offer tomorrow.
We'll go over in the morning and load up some of dad's tools, guns, reloading stuff and a few ammo cans of ammo. I'll sell the ammo and give my son a couple of the guns.

 

[Mountain trapper]

.

 

[user 7704]

It's hard.

We have a slight chance of flurries on Friday

 

[user 7704]

Weather forecast changed. No snow. Someone came and picked up my sofa and snuggles, bedding and bed frame. So happy to have them gone. Bad thing is that I now have mom's living room suite and it's ugly blue cloth. I'm a leather person. My leather set had lots of pet chew marks, so it needed to go. Husband hates this blue one. Maybe it will make him get a new one. I guess I need to wait for these kittens to grow some. They are so destructive now. Mom brought tons of clothes , but I notice she is throwing away bags and bags. Oh well.

 

[user 7704]

Speaking of the elderly, I have an appointment with my ENT specialist tomorrow about these nasal polyps that are suffocating me.

I know he will say I need surgery again. This will be third. I really don't want surgery.

 

[user 7704]

He said I need surgery and then do the aspirin desensitization again. So I called my allergist to reserve a week long spot in his office to do the aspirin thing. He personally called me back within 20 minutes and asked me to please not have surgery again and come see him tomorrow for another option. Not many doctors would have such a personal approach these days. So I'm off to the allergist in the morning.

 

[Mountain trapper]

We listed my parents place last Friday and have had 3 offers already. One offer was full cash price. The only problem is that he wants to close on this Friday. That's too soon, I countered for next Friday. I've got a house full of furniture, antiques, kitchen stuff, and appliances to get rid of. Plus the garage is full too. I guess I could just take everything to the dump. The wife flys back to work today so she'll be gone for another month. No help there.

 

[user 7704]

My daughter works in real estate and in Middle Tennessee you have to offer above asking price to even be considered. Most go within a few days too. The market is hot.

 

[Mountain trapper]

My daughter works in real estate and in Middle Tennessee you have to offer above asking price to even be considered. Most go within a few days too. The market is hot.

I've heard of that happening. I figure that if someone offers my asking price then the house is theirs. I don't like the real estate games.

 

[lonewolf]

you can be elderly and in good health, we aren't all house bound or got chronic bad health.
what is the definition of elderly anyway? what age? or is it just anyone who is a retiree?

 

[user 7704]

In have no idea when the term elderly kicks in. When my mom was my age, she was old. She acted old. She wasn't active like I am nor did she dress like anyone but an old person.

I don't feel my age. I really don't like looking into a mirror though. I've never had to color my hair because of grey.

I don't take meds for blood pressure, cholesterol etc.

I do get daily calls from telemarketers about burial insurance for seniors. The *******s.

 

[lonewolf]

my father was old at 50 but then mum and him had gone through a world war.
I don't feel old, the odd aching leg but that's from my motorbike accident in the mid 1960s.
I don't feel any older than I did when I was 50, and I was courting the wife back then!!!

 

[user 7704]

Ah 50, that's the age I found out my husband was courting other women. Lol

 

[lonewolf]

no such problems here, we've both been married twice before and I think we know the pitfalls and what to look for, anyway we are both too busy .