January 13, 2012 New Year, new situations

I just reread my last post and it's incredible how much has happened. My mother's knee surgery went very well. I had my first case portrayal and it was a lot of fun and I got compliments from the preceptor who attended. My next portrayal won't be until next week, because of all that's happened in between.

To summarize: about a week after my mom came here to recover, she ended up back in the hospital with pneumonia. During that stay the doctors discovered that she had a heart attack sometime in November between her pre-op testing and her surgery. They probably would have canceled the surgery if they'd know, which is probably why she didn't tell anyone that she had the awful chest pains in the middle of the night. I remember a point at which she became too tired to do much of anything and we quit PT until after her knee replacement. Her energy level is very low at times, which makes sense considering that she lost a third of her heart function, and we need to monitor sodium intake and fluids more than before, but otherwise she is doing pretty well. There were a couple of weeks when she had no energy, but that is to be expected after pneumonia and with her heart issues. Her therapists are very please with her physical progress so far, and after another week or so, we will start again at Keystone Rehab. 

Bob's eye is coming along. His vision hasn't stabilized yet, so his glasses are not helping much in that eye. That is frustrating because it affects most everything. He returned to volleyball this week with limited success, but is going to try again tonight. He and Bob John have been trying to get out skiing at least once before Holiday Valley, but opted out of this weekend because of the low temperatures and the wind. 

I am holding my own. I have a Case Portrayal next week, which will get me out of the house and back into the swing of that. I was quite confined for a while, sometimes not leaving the house at all for almost a week. Different for me, that's for sure. I am trying to strike a balance between making sure my mom is doing the right things for herself and letting an 85-year-old indulge herself in some of the things she loves. (Her favorite snacks of olives and cheese are high on the sodium spectrum!)

Holiday Valley is coming up, and Roxann is going to stay here. My mom is actually a little more independent than she has been, able to use the bathroom by herself and get up and down more easily, so that will work.

In the meantime, the other big event was the death of Bob John's mother, Peg John. She had been in the nursing home since last March when she had a stroke. After a stint in a rehab facility, she went to a memory care place. She fell and broke her hip October and really never made it out of bed after that. He is at peace with the ending, since he knows he did everything he could and that her life wasn't really much fun for the past year.

So, we've begun a new year with new challenges. We've been pretty philosophical about all the changes and obligations, and I think ultimately we'll feel some satisfaction that we did things the right way.