SERENITY PRAYER

This is what has been helping Mom make it through all the hurdles that came her way in the last few months.  I found a pocket version to leave on her tray when we left. 

NOT FROLICKING BUT NOT FAILING EITHER!

Awww....that week went by fast! We leave for home tomorrow.  Mom has revived and is doing better each day.  She's giving physical therapy a fair shot and hopefully she just continues to thrive.  We will miss our bedside chats, but must return to my job now.  Frolicked as best we could inside a hospital room :).

DINNER WITH JOHN,JULIE AND KIDS

Good food, good conversation in a comfortable setting.  We enjoyed seeing everyone and the kids are just too cute.  It's been awhile since we could sit and watch little guys and their playfulness, giggling and smiles. And enjoyed talking with Cat and liked that she shared a new video app, which I WILL be looking up when I get back home.

 

DAYS OF UPS AND DOWNS

It's hard to tell where Mom's future is heading.  She has good days and bad days.  She is frail and on bad days she is very, very tired and sleeps away between nurses continuingly interrupting her dreams to prod and poke.  On good days, which seem to us to be the non-dialysis ones, she is chatty and enjoys company so much that she will force her eyes to stay open or tell you to continue conversation while her eyes are closed.  I say the future is uncertain as new ailments creep up all the time.  right now in addition to all else, she is fighting 2 infections in different parts of her body.  But, we came to encourage her so we watch TV, have political, worldly discussions and most recently, because she was ready, we reintroduced her to her music.  she tells us she looks forward to each day now....a far cry from last week's devastation.
ps- did I mention my husband is a saint to sit with me through all this and NEVER complain?

One of mom's favorites...WILLIE

THE WAITING GAME

We sat with mom today watching cartoons because they made her smile being so colorful and cute.  We chatted in between her nodding off.  Later we went to the Harley dealership.  When we returned, we could see Mom needed more rest although she didn't want us to leave.  On the way home we stopped for a "little" ice cream...honestly, I had a cup of sugarfree chocolate mint...that's Don's Banana split :) .  Mom's a trooper and she is doing her best to eat what she can...We all chuckled because we never imagined  having to encourage her to eat

 

TIME FOR MOM

Finally arrive at hospital and it's so good to sit with Mom.  She has been through Hell the past few months in hospital. When we arrived, Mom told us how she thought we would be there the night before at 5:00, so she got herself all cleaned up and ready, then went and sat in the hallway waiting for us to come but, instead, she found that we had come and gone without seeing her and left a hotdog on the chair for her!!  Knowing there was no way she can even get out of bed, I said, "Mom, were you hallucinating?" She said "yeah".  I said, "Mom, do you want a hot dog?" she said, "Oh, I would love one!" So, we did get her a hot dog, but she was only able to take 2 small bites.  Her appetite is poor and we need to encourage her to eat, as everyone has been trying to do.  Between visits today, we drove to the beach where I could put my "boot" in the sand.

MOM, WE'RE ON OUR WAY!

Mom has been in the hospital over 40 days while trying to recover from knee surgery.  She was recently moved to a new hospital for more specialized care. So, it's time to head down to lift her spirits. Don and I are heading out via Logan.