This Week...

Monday....Took Mom to the radiology office for a bone density scan. She has some osteoporosis, so they do these scans every couple of years or so.

Tuesday....Took Mom to the hospital for a nuclear stress test. When she'd gone for a check up to her family doctor, he listened to her heart with the stethoscope, and he heard her heart skip a beat. (No, not because she's in love with him!) He did an immediate EKG and then determined that she should have a stress test. Thinking that, because she is 85 years old and walks with a cane, she could not withstand a tread mill, he ordered the injection type of test.  I've got news for Dr. S.  Mom could have out-done me, for sure, on that tread mill, but he is a careful doctor, and not one to take chances, so injection-type it was.  It took all morning, and she wasn't terribly pleased about the whole business. When she came out to the waiting room, she firmly reported that she was 'never going to do that again! She was also wearing a Holter monitor which she'd have to wear for the next 24 hours.

Wednesday...Took Mom back to the cardiology unit at the hospital for removal of the monitor. She was glad to get that off and the electrodes and wires that were attached from it to her body.  We were instructed to make a follow up appointment with the doctor. We left the hospital and went to Best Buy to peruse the computer section. Mom's old one quit, and she wants to buy a new one. I'm a bit concerned that she won't be able to operate the updated programs, as she doesn't see well and they can be confusing enough for someone who has perfect vision. I'd hate for her to spend all that money, and not be able to use it. But, she likes to play her games, and can do so little else, I'm careful not to say anything very discouraging. Anyway, she's determined.

Thursday.... I balanced Mom's checkbook (I almost never do my own!)  Then I wrote out her checks for her to sign and addressed envelopes for her. I also made numerous phone calls for her to get work done on two houses.

Friday...today we will go and pick up the new computer, which she has decided is the answer to her long, boring days. It seems to me to be a rather pricey toy, if it will be used mostly for puzzles and card games....but it's not my money, and not my long, boring days.

Not often, but sometimes I feel as if I'm living my Mom's life, rather than my own. When I realize how selfish that sounds/is, I erase the thought!  After all, she can't help it if all of her hobbies and interests have been stolen by poor eye-sight and failing hearing. She can't help it if she's a widow or that can't drive herself hither and yon, and she can't help it that age is causing more and more doctors and appointments.  She can't help the fact that she needs some aid in doing things, like balancing checkbooks and writing envelopes.  God gave this wonderful Mom to me, and she was always there for me and my family, to help in any way she could: babysitting, offering a listening ear or a word of wisdom, even giving a short term loan at times.

I'd so much rather have her with us than not to have her. I'd prefer to help her as much as I can, rather than have her in a nursing home, or even to hire an aide to come to the house. She doesn't need all that much care and we all hope that she never will. She just needs a few hours, sometimes every single day of the week, but that's ok with me. So many other elderly people need so much more requiring their children to be there around the clock. Mom has decided many times over that she will NOT live with us, but will do 'something else' if it comes to that. She's welcome, but she wants to live independently as much as she's able.  I do wish, however, that we could find a person to clean her house. With my bad hip and back, I don't do real well on my feet that long, and my own house suffers because of that. Try as we have, we still haven't located anyone who has shown up.

So, all of my plans for this week, painting shutters, cleaning my house, getting my ornaments made for the Christmas exchange, have been put on hold. It's really alright. Those things will always be there waiting, but who knows how long  Mom will be here?  As long as she is, I will be there for her...and I won't regret a minute of it.