Mom saw the dentist today at the nursing center. They had to give her something for anxiety because she was so upset. I should have told the lady last night on the phone that they had my permission, but I didn't think of it. They called today and of course, I said yes. Her teeth are in pretty good condition considering her age and the fact she has them all. She has one new cavity that is pretty bad, and 1 filling has come out. We will get those taken care of as soon as possible. Thanks to my 2 friends who gave suggestions on dentists. I very much appreciate that. Mom ate 1/2 of her dinner which is good for her. She even drank 1/2 of the 1/2 pint of milk, first time in 3 weeks since she has drank that much milk. I was so pleased with her even though it is difficult to get her to eat and drink. It takes about an hour for her to eat, with a pit stop thrown in. After dinner they usually put her to bed because she is so tired after a long day. She doesn't get time to take much of a nap there because of the therapy in the morning and the therapy in the afternoon. I would much rather her be put to bed early than no therapy or less therapy that is for sure. 5 more days and she comes home, although it really is 4 1/2 because she gets out so early on the 16th. I still haven't touched the dining room table. He he he. I will work on it this weekend. I have just been rather lazy about it but it will get done before she comes home. I plan to get a nice spring/summer bouquet of flowers for her homecoming. It will have been 3 1/2 weeks since she has been home and she deserves some flowers. I plan to go out to dinner with her too, but that will wait until the weekend. She needs to rest up a bit before we go out.

I had sewing class with my girls today! Lydia finished her skirt and Natalie is almost done. I have to take the flounce off again (2nd time) because she put it on backwards. I told her I would take it apart and finish it off sometime next week. I also plan on finishing Emily's and Lily's dresses this weekend. So all in all, a lot of sewing next week! It's nice to have plans to be busy. I will also be able to have knitting next week which is something I have not had in about 3 weeks. Mom will be with me, she loves visiting while my friend and I knit even though she sometimes falls asleep during the visit. Mom gets so tired so easy now that I have to be careful with her. Outside of sewing and 2 lessons, I have no real plans this weekend. I have 1 lesson on Saturday and 1 lesson on Sunday, so perfect for me. I haven't had any response to the ads I put in the newspaper. I am rather disappointed with it, but I tried. There must be a good reason I don't have any new students right now. I just have to wait to find out why and I am not a very patient person. Who knows what God plans? Not me, I am just waiting for the answer. He has been faithful so far in my life, I just have to be faithful now.

Pain is not so bad today, thank goodness for that and my head is not as bad as it was. It is still above normal, but not like it was the last 3 days. yeah! My arm is getting better too, I can even lay on that side of my body at night for a bit now, whereas a month ago I still couldn't. I am pleased that the arm is getting better and less frozen. Maybe by the end of summer, it will be completely healed. We shall see! I hope this finds you having a good day. Mine was good and enjoyable. It is getting hot now, supposed to be very hot and humid tomorrow. I will be hiding inside tomorrow during that weather!

So I took Mom to the ENT this afternoon. A rather waste of time. She doesn't have a growth in her ear after all! Thank goodness for that. She may have TMJ, from what I read and where Mom says the pain is at, it is very likely she has that. The nursing home's dentist will look at her for that. If they don't look at her before she goes home, I will have to find a dentist and make an appointment. We don't really have the money for a dentist, but if that is what she needs, then that is what she gets. I think she does need to go to the dentist anyways since it has been years since she has gone. We will wait and see what happens between now and Wednesday. Only 6 more days until the little person comes home! Yeah!!!!

She is still in a lot of pain, her throat is better, but her ear is bad. She didn't eat much breakfast because of the pain, but I was able to get some lunch down her before the pain took over. I talked to the nurse and asked her to give Mom the pain pills closer to dinner so maybe that will help her. I won't be there until dinner tomorrow and Saturday.

I am so tired today and my head is sore again. I need a nap. I think I will go and take one shortly. I got up at the regular time today, but I don't know exactly why I am so tired except I have had a bad headache for 3 days now. I am very sick of this headache, totally sick of it.

I hope your day is better than mine.

I had lunch with my friend, Wendy, from high school. It was fun. I really enjoy getting together with her and chatting. She has to set her alarm on the phone or we would continue to chat and her little boy won't get picked up from school. That would be bad. I am sure he would like to come home. She has one more week of this school stuff and then summer vacation! I know she and the family are looking forward to it.

I saw Mom, as usual, this afternoon for lunch. She was checked by the doctor today for her earache and her throat. She has a growth in her ear so tomorrow I will be taking her to the ENT doctor. The first one I called, she couldn't get in until June 29 so when I was telling Wendy, she gave me the name of another doctor. I called him when I got home and we have an appointment for tomorrow! How cool is that. So after lunch tomorrow, I will take her to the doctor. It will be the first time she has ridden in a car for 2 weeks. Too bad I have to take her back, but I do until the 16th when she comes home for good. I can't wait. 7 more days. Oh, I found her clothes down in the laundry at the home. They are now marked. There is just one t-shirt that is in the laundry now that needs to be marked. I will get it tomorrow. So we are all set on her clothes now.

She didn't eat very much for breakfast or lunch because of the pain in her ear and throat. I think her throat is just raw from the dehydration. They took out the IV this morning. I hope they are going in and asking her to drink every hour or so. They said they would be. I don't know how much she will handle today though with the pain that she is in. I don't like seeing her in pain. I hope this growth thing is easy to deal with because she certainly doesn't need anything more to happen to her. She doesn't understand what is happening now much less if there is something bad about this growth. What could they do for her? But I will be hopeful and find out tomorrow. I am asking for pain pills for her though because she is in extreme pain from this growth. Tylenol just isn't cutting it for her.

Today is a tiring day. I had a really bad headache last night when I went to bad. The type that the tummy had to join right on in. I finally fell asleep but I am so tired today because I didn't sleep that well from the pain. I am going to bed early tonight that is for sure. In a few minutes Oprah will be on. I hope it isn't one I have already seen, that would not be fun. I haven't seen very many for the last few months because of teaching. I don't mind. If I had the choice between TV and teaching, we all know I would pick teaching.

It has turned into a nice day today. I enjoyed the visit with my friend and I do like spending time with Mom even if she does cry a lot. She will be better when she gets home and when she gets something for the pain. I hope you are having a good day.

Mom is in a lot of pain this morning. She couldn't eat her breakfast because her throat is just so raw. I tried to give her some lunch but she ate what she could, she is just in so much pain. I almost broke down and cried with her. They had given her a pain pill 2 hours before that so she can't get another for another 2 hours. Poor thing. I know what it is like to sit or lie in pain. It is awful. This whole new episode is breaking my heart. I don't like seeing her in pain. It is so hard for her to express herself that all she does is cry because of the pain. I hope they are giving her some pain medicine now as it is past 2:00. If it is like last time the pain should be lessening by tomorrow. But still, that is 4 days in pain for her. She should be able to eat better by Thursday, if it is anything like the last episode. So far, no need to send her back to the hospital. Thank goodness for that. She is confused on where she is enough.

I got her discharge papers this morning. She will be discharged on June 16 at about 10 in the morning. I will be there by 9:30 so we can have everything packed and ready to go. We are looking at 8 more days of this for her. So far all her blood tests have come out okay. Her urine test should be back this afternoon so they will know more about the urinary tract infection. She is almost done with the medicine for that. At least this way I will get whatever medicine she needs if the infection isn't gone, unlike if I take her out early. I can do this, it is only 8 more days away. She so wants to be home too. She asks everyday when does she get to go home. I just don't want her in pain. Her therapy seems to be working out well. Today is bath day but because she is on an IV, she couldn't do a regular shower so it is a sponge type bath for the little Mom today. At least she will be clean and spiffy smelling. Tomorrow I have to go down to the laundry because 1 of Mom's outfits is missing. I don't think it was marked so I will have that taken care of then. It is her favorite outfit, her Disney sweat pants and sweat jacket. She looks so adorable in it.

I have a bad headache today but I think partly because I didn't get enough sleep last night. I am going to be going into the living room for a brief nap before Frank's lesson. I think the other reason is the extra stress I am under because of Mom and the latest episode. I am just not taking this in stride, I don't know how to. I know these things are going to happen to her. She doesn't eat or drink enough but once she is home I can put my new plan in place and maybe this won't happen for a long while again. At least I know how she behaves when this happens. I wish I could prevent it from happening. My arm is really sore too, I think I am sore almost everywhere today. I hope tomorrow is better.

I hope your day is going well. Mine probably won't be good until Mom is home, safe and sound, with me.

Mom is dehydrated again and this time at the home. The doctor saw her this morning and had them start an IV on her immediately. She was complaining about a sore throat on Saturday and Sunday but the doctor isn't there on the weekends so she had to wait until today to see him. The doctor also ordered blood tests for her because he doesn't like how she is looking. I am not surprised, she doesn't look good at all right now because of the dehydration. I am not sure if they will send her to the hospital or not, the nurse didn't know. When Mom comes home this weekend this episode should be over if it goes the same way the other episode did. 7 more days until she is home. I plan to carry a drink for her wherever we go no matter what we will be doing. I got my backpack out so that I fit an ensure in there when we go somewhere. I also have the little cooler in the back seat of the car for extra ensures if we are going somewhere for any length of time. I plan on trying to get her to drink every hour she is awake, even if it is only a sip. That will be better than nothing. She is in pain and I asked them to give her something for it, so I am hoping they did. Dehydration is very painful for her. It also gives her a bad headache which she had when I left for teaching. I will check on her tomorrow at lunch. I hope she will be doing much better.

I finished pinning Lily and Emily's dresses this afternoon. I am just waiting for them to come and try them on again so I can press them and then make the hems. I called and let them know it was done. Lily said probably on Saturday they will be here for the fitting. I said no problem! I can finish the dresses Saturday or Sunday and they will be ready in time for the wedding. Mom's problem has thrown a loop into my schedule, but that is okay, we still have time.

Bob had his lesson today and Calli should be here any minute. After that I plan to go grocery shopping as we are out of a few things. It will be weird going to Walmart without Mom but I will at least be able to go as fast as I want on the cart. That will be fun. I need to get a few things for the week and I plan to do the big shopping before Mom comes home so that she won't have to go with me.

Pain is higher today because of the extra stress worrying about Mom and her dehydration. I am just not happy this happened again so soon. She needs to be reminded all the time about drinking and they are just not doing it. I don't understand how anyone can expect a woman in stage 6 of Alzheimer's to remember to drink all by herself. She barely remembers about the bathroom all by herself. I will see her tomorrow and see how she is doing then. I will check on the tests they did on her today then too.

I hope this finds you doing much better than I am right now. Have a great day!!!!

here is one of the links of the week:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/fma/fibromyalgiaaware_2009winter_v2/

8 more days! I can't wait. Almost a week away and Mom will be here, back where she belongs. I saw her for lunch and she was crying through most of it. The nurses assistant said it was a crying day for her. She cried through out breakfast too. She just wants to come home. She doesn't understand why she is not home or with me. The nurse assistant also said she couldn't understand why she was still so confused as the infection is getting better. I told her that the confusion isn't going to get better because Mom has Alzheimer's. She was surprised. She didn't know that. Now, why wouldn't the nurse assistants not know mom has Alzheimer's? Anyways, Mom's throat is bothering her again today so I told the nurse I wanted her looked at. So tomorrow morning the doctor will look at Mom's throat and ears. It may be just a cold coming on, or it could be dehydration as she drinks even less there than she does here, or at least from what I have seen. I can't wait until she gets home, I just can't wait. This has been so hard on the little Mom. I won't do this again to her that is for sure.

I will be working on the girls dresses after I finish up here. Emily and Lily need to have one more fitting before I cut and sew the hem of the dress. I will be pinning it in place this afternoon. Then I will message their dad and let him know so when the girls are available this week they can come for a fitting. Lily will need her shoes though. I want to make sure it is right. I should have done Emily's 3 weeks ago when I first got the dress but I didn't. I didn't anticipate that Mom would become ill and not have time to do the dress. I won't procrastinate like this again. I want to be finished pinning by dinner time. I have ordered the shoes I need for the wedding today. I meant to do that last month but I forgot. Sometimes my fibro fog is so annoying. I have known for months that I need new shoes, but I forget about it unless it is in the middle of the night or another time that is not convenient to order them. But I have them done now and that is what counts.

Pain is normal, surprising for such an upsetting day. I am upset today and hope I will feel better tomorrow. I think I will go to bed early tonight to make tomorrow come faster. I have 6 lessons tomorrow! How cool is that? I think it is pretty cool and I am excited about it. I hope this finds you doing well and having a great day.

9 more days until the little Mom comes home! I saw her for dinner today. She is looking rather tired and she said her throat was hurting her. I hope that is not a sign of dehydration again. Poor thing doesn't need another episode so soon after the first one. Although, if the doctor wants physical therapy for her again, they are doing it at home. She did say she doesn't like not being with me. I told her it was only for a few more days and she calms down but she is a bit more confused that usual. I think it is because she is really not sure where she is and doesn't understand where I am. She is probably in bed by now as she gets real tired about this time there. No afternoon nap like we have here at home for her. She doesn't make much sense some of the time when I visit her right now. I am hoping that clears up when we are home. I just can't wait until next weekend when she is discharged! I just can't wait. This week has gone by pretty quick which is a good thing and next week promises to be a bit busy too. Thank God for that! I don't like having too much time on my hands when I am waiting for something. I have almost finished all 6 books that I bought Tuesday or Wednesday. I will get more on Monday. I will be bringing some old ones that I don't want anymore back for trade. It makes the books cheaper to buy.

It has been a good day despite no mom here. I took a wee nap after Lily's lesson today. We had Lily's fitting for her today. I pinned her one strap and the top will be okay with the tighter strap, it straightens it out nicely. She should have her shoes this week. Speaking of shoes, I actually need to look at the catalog and order some because I don't have any for the wedding. I don't have any dress shoes and I don't want to wear tennis shoes, they are so not appropriate for a wedding (or any other place where dress shoes are expected) I have very wide feet unfortunately so I have to order my shoes special. I will be looking on the website tonight and ordering them. I hate shopping for shoes, well, I actually hate shopping in general, not just for shoes.

Lily's lesson went well. She finished up 2 songs and will start 2 more next week, possibly, depending on how much time we need to spend on her audition material. She is trying out for summer music theatre class. The musical they are doing is Aida. I love Aida. It is an amazing musical and the music!!!! Oh, it is the best. The music is written by Elton John and the lyrics by Tim Rice and they did a wonderful job. I have the CD somewhere. I haven't seen it since I closed the store, although I know it came home with me, I just don't know which box it is in. I haven't heard any school doing that play yet though. We will have to get tickets right away when they go on sale. Mom really liked the play too. She just loved it and we would listen to the soundtrack in my car when we would go places. Musicals are one of the things Mom and I have in common, one of many. We have many of the same tastes in a lot of things, it is quite scary, my brothers used to tease me and say Mom and I were one person. Really, we aren't, we are two separate people with very similar tastes. I can't wait to see Lily in her first musical. She will be so cute. Of course, it isn't like I am biased or anything, nah, not at all! I don't just think she is an amazing young person, which of course, you know I do think she is pretty amazing. It is wonderful to watch her grow. I have been lucky, I have been able to be a part of some pretty fantastic kids along the way with teaching. One of them should be in Seattle right now. I just realized that. Debbie should be there. I can't wait to hear how her trip went! She was planning some nifty stops along the way.

Pain is normal for the day including the arm and head for a change. I would venture a guess that if my blood pressure was taken now, it would be my normal, low and not high like on Thursday. I am calmly reading, sewing, watching a bit of TV, laundry, and some other light household chores this weekend, unlike all last week and the week before where I was a bit upset. I am calm now. I am used to this with Mom not being here and am calmly counting down the days until she is home.

I hope this finds you doing really well, enjoying your weekend and your family. Family makes everything great, at least mine does!

Mom is doing alright. She didn't really cry to much when I was there this evening. She barely ate dinner though and passed up a snack at bedtime. Usually after dinner she falls asleep so they change her and put her into bed. I stayed for a couple of hours today. Mom was in better spirits so I think her infection must be clearing up. She is still a bit more confused than usual because of the infection, but that is normal for this situation. I am counting down the days until she comes home. I think I write that every night. Hmm, maybe I should stop doing that. I am getting calmer and calmer over this situation. I am sleeping a bit better now than I was last week. One more week, just one more week, that is what I keep telling myself. My pain level hasn't come completely back to normal yet, but I figure by the end of the week it should. My head isn't too bad, but it is more than the normal pain I have. My arm was a bit sore last night and this morning, but now it has calmed down.

I haven't cleared the table yet nor have I started Emily's dress. I will be working on the dress this weekend. I need help getting the sewing machine out of the trunk and I am sure Ross will do it for me tomorrow. I will get all my tools out tomorrow after I swiffer the floor. I don't want the floor dirty in case the dress accidentally reaches it. I don't remember how full the dress it and I don't want any dirt on it. I plan to do the dress in the afternoon before I go to help with Mom's dinner. I'd bring her a donut, but she didn't eat the last two I brought her. Oh yeah, speaking of food, the are switching Mom to pureed food because at lunch she spit out all the food that wasn't pureed. I guess she just couldn't swallow it then. She ate her little carrots okay and the couple of bits of pizza but she scarfed down the mashed potatoes. She loves potatoes, just loves them.

I may go to a movie on Sunday. Not really sure yet, but I might. I don't have anything else to do on Sunday except perhaps a movie. I am going to see what Katie is up too this weekend. I haven't seen her in forever it seems. Wednesday, I am meeting my friend, Wendy for tea at Tim Horton's after I am finished with Mom's lunch. We are meeting at 1:30. It should be so much fun.

I know have finished 5 out of the 6 used books I bought. I may have to take a quick run tomorrow for some more. I haven't been to the storage unit yet to check what books are there. If it doesn't rain Sunday, I will go. I need something to read for next week, the last week before Momma comes home.

It is raining out now. It was pretty nice most of the day, it is a bit cooler but still in the mid 70's, so it was nice weather out, before the rain I mean. It started about 5 minutes before I left from visiting Mom. I was going to leave a few minutes before I did, but I was chatting with Mom and didn't realize the time. She was starting to fall asleep. Silly me to get caught in the rain. At least the downpour (the 5 whole minute downpour) was mostly over so I didn't get soaked.

I hope this finds you doing well and not getting totally soaked in the rain!

new interesting website for us fibro type people!!!

www.healthmattersshow.com

check it out! thanks!

I haven't seen Mom today, I had a doctor appointment and I have a lesson so I won't make any meals with her today. I did speak to the social worker. She called to give me an update on Mom. She is making progress with her physical and occupational therapy, so yeah! to Mom on that one. She also checked into why Mom cries, apparently she cries when I am there. So now what do I do? I can't not visit her, but I make her cry when I do because when I am not there she doesn't think about coming home anymore. She is used to there now. I won't be able to see her today because of my schedule, however I am planning to see her for dinner tomorrow. I will also find out then how her infection is coming along. I know the doctor ordered more blood work yesterday about this issue. My blood pressure was a bit high at the doctors today. I explained why I was so stressed, she said to try and relax about that whole thing. Easier said than done that is for sure. Also, I gained the 2 pounds I had lost. Yuck on that. My weight is going in the wrong direction again. I will do something about that. I am counting down the days until Mom is here with me. I miss her. I am trying to enjoy my time away from her, but it is hard as I take care of her all day everyday. There are some things I don't miss though, I will freely admit that. I don't miss helping her with the bathroom and getting ready for the day or the night. That I don't miss. I miss her during the daytime, you know, how she is during the day. That is what I miss. I don't miss the work part of it at all. I did enjoy telling the nurse assistant that Mom had to go to the bathroom and I didn't have to help with it! It was a relief not to do that. But, still, I do miss her a lot. I am getting used to being on my own and today, to my relief, I found that I am not lonely. I was the last week and the first part of this week. I am enjoying being on my own today. So yeah! for me! I have a link to look at later today after my lesson about a dog. I haven't decided that yet, I need to inspect our house a bit more to see if it is dog or cat ready. I think a pet would be good for me and Mom. She loves animals, but is sometimes afraid of bigger dogs than the smaller ones. I think it would be good therapy for her, but I need to inspect our house and check our funds to see we will be okay.

I talked to Richard, the big brother!, yesterday. I was so excited when he answered the phone. He is going to come and visit us before July after Mom comes home. She will be pleased to see him. I told him she knows who he is and everything, so I think he is happy about that. He is imagining a time when she won't know who he is. I think this last episode with Mom and the hospital had him thinking about her a lot. I told him flat out that last Wednesday when I called him I thought she was dying. Now she isn't. I gave him the scoop on her. He said he would call this weekend, I won't hold my breath because he is very busy but I would love to talk more with him! I haven't been able to get a hold of Andrew, the little brother, yet. I gave up trying. He is just too difficult to get a hold of. I spoke with Richard about what I needed to talk to him about and we made the decision for mom. I tried my hardest with Andrew but he will just have to respect the decision we made. I know he will. Mom comes home in 11 days. I am counting them. I have 11 more peaceful filled days in the Paxton residence before the chaos begins again!

I am looking forward for the rest of the week's lessons and sewing. I haven't been to sewing in 3 weeks. I will be working on Emily's dress this evening after dinner and Frank's lesson. She should be ready for her last fitting on Saturday or early next week, which ever fits the busy girl's schedule. I will also be starting Lily's dress next week so both will be done in time for the wedding even with the craziness of the schedule of visiting Mom.

Pain is back to the normal including the arm and head today. I am a bit more tired than usual as I couldn't sleep last night, don't really know why. I wasn't in more pain than usual, but I did get up a bit earlier than normal because of the doctor appointment and the few errands I had to run before the appointment. I will be heading for bed a bit early I think tonight. I am enjoying reading and working on the computer. I hope this finds you doing well.