We are waiting for Robin to call so we can meet for lunch. She is getting her hair done and I am getting really hungry. I mean, really hungry, as I haven't eaten at all today. That would be because I did just get up, but seriously, I am getting Olga's Restaurant hungry. I hope that is where we are going today. Mom is coming too. Robin has a railing for a bed for Mom that I hope will help her not fall out. Now, she hasn't fallen out yet, but I like to do preventative measures instead of after the incident ever since she wandered out of the house last year, 3 times. Now she is blocked in upstairs and has no where to go. She can wander away all she wants up those stairs at night and before I wake up. She usually just lays there until I come into her room. Then we get up and get her dressed. I am almost always dressed before I get her ready. It makes it much easier to do when I am already dressed.

We have a quiet weekend ahead of us. Katie will be here Sunday afternoon for her lesson and to help put music away. I will be labeling the new music I received probably this evening and Saturday while the TV is on entertaining Mom. We have a new movie we need to watch too, as well as finish up the Season 8 of Walker, Texas Ranger. We have enough for entertainment while I do a bit of work this weekend. I don't know what lessons I will have this Monday as it is labor day. I will be home, but I don't know what the plans are for my students. I shall find out soon, I expect.

The hospital bed is still in the living room. I have called again to have them come and get it. They still haven't. I wonder if they are even going to. It takes up a lot of the space in the living room that can be used for other things, like a sofa and the table chairs for the little ones. That helps with the siblings entertainment during lessons that is really important because we need quiet siblings during the lessons! I hope they take it this weekend. It is bothering me having it here. It needs to go, completely go.

Mom is a bit chatty today, it is kind of cute. She gets this way sometimes especially when I am on the phone or the computer. She has been so quiet at times that a chatty mom is a nice change.

Robin was getting a perm to her hair, that's what was taking so long. We are back from meeting with her. She loaned me a bed rail. It looks like it will do the trick for Mom. We shall see. Mom is sleeping in the living room. Evelyn, the nurse, is on her way to see Mom for her weekly check up. She comes once a week now, instead of 2 times a week. I haven't told her about the fall yet, but I will and I have the discharge papers in case she needs them. It was a fun lunch with Robin. I love Panera. I wanted to go to Olga's until Robin said how about Panera? Well, that changed my mind and boy was it good.

Just relaxing the rest of the night. It is so beautiful out. My head is almost its normal headache. Loving this weather though, simply loving it! I hope you are having a good day too.

I went to the cardiologist this afternoon. I do not have a heart problem. His opinion is that the stress test was normal and since everything else was normal, the pain was not from the heart. Since I found out that fibromyalgia can imitate heart pains, I think that is what it was.

Mom got up rather late today. I let her sleep in because she was so tired. She got up a few minutes before Angela arrived. It worked out quite well. Mom got her hair washed too and the blood is now out of her hair from the fall. She seems to have recovered nicely from it. She isn't really sore in too many places and she went up and down the stairs just fine. No major problems with that! She went with me to the doctors as usual. It was a long wait for a few minute visit. I hate waiting for doctors, but what else can we do? While we were at the doctors office there was a storm, but fortunately we didn't have any damage.

Saturday is Richard's birthday. He will be 46 years old. He is 3 1/2 years older than me and 4 1/2 years older than Andrew. I wonder what he will be doing on his birthday? I plan to call him and hope I get a chance to talk a long while with him.

Mom is slightly grumpish right now. Not really grumpy, grumpy, just a little off. She got mad when I told her that her prescription was in and we would pick it up tomorrow. She actually got mad at that. Now she is fine again since I told her it was going to rain. Hard to tell with her what is going on, sometimes it is exhausting figuring her out.

Her favorite game is playing with paper so I try to make sure she has paper to play with. She loves envelopes too so when I don't need an envelope, I just pass it along. Sometimes she is amusing too. She wants to hit the road now. I asked her where she wanted to go and she doesn't know. Alzheimer's, what an interesting, crazy disease.

Not much going on tonight. We may meet up with Robin tomorrow, that will be fun. Since the physical therapist came today, she will be here on Saturday. I think her schedule is busier than mine at times.

I have a bad headache today. I can thank the humid weather for that. I hope it goes away soon. Tomorrow is supposed be a better weather type day because I really am tired of bad headaches because of the weather. I hope you are doing better.

Mom is home. She did not get a MRI done because the neurologist didn't want to do one. She didn't see the same thing in the CT scan results as the emergency doctor. Yes, there is some shrinkage, which is normal for Alzheimer's. Right now she is in the living room sleeping even though I don't really like her sleeping this late in the day. However, today was not a normal day, so she can sleep away. She didn't have a nap today or yesterday so I imagine she is exhausted. I am and I had a brief nap yesterday, mind you it was at about 6:30 pm, but it was a nap, nonetheless. I am glad they decided not to do a MRI because they would really need to knock her completely out for it. She would flip. I have had one and I can't see her being able to handle it. I didn't like it one bit and I had to have 2 of them. That is definitely one experience I never want again. The main reason they didn't do one was because if she had a stroke, there is nothing they can do about it. It would be a silent stroke, not a major one where there are symptoms. Vascular Dementia is usually caused by strokes and that is what Mom has, according to the neurologist at the hospital. We both just got lucky that she didn't break anything.

I am relieved to have her home and resting. I am pretty calm over the whole thing now. Pain level has gone down a bit since the meeting with the neurologist this afternoon. I was in a lot of pain last night that I had to come down and take another pain pill just so I could try to get some sleep. I should sleep very well tonight with both of us here. I called her neurologist to let her know Mom was in the hospital again and why. Tomorrow I have to have the hospital fax over the reports to Dr. T for her records. When I go into the cardiologist tomorrow I will let Dr. G know that Mom is home and she is fine. The cardiologist is in the same office as our family doctor. Makes it easier to have the records in one place. I also found out that the tummy doctor now comes once a month to my family doctor's office too. I still just go to his office because I see his assistant and we like her a lot. I am very tired today too, just like Mom. Mom is walking about as good as I imagined. I don't know if I will get her up the stairs. If not, the hospital bed is still here and even though she hates it, she may end up sleeping on it. We will see. She is resting now so she may be okay going up tonight. Her left side is a bit sore she says. I have a prescription for liquid adult Tylenol that I am going to get filled for her. Also I have talked to the doctors office to ask for a better pain medicine for Mom rather than children's Tylenol. Maybe a patch or something like that. We shall see what they give us.

Anyways, life is back to the normal for us. We are going to lie low as Richard calls it, for the next few days. Nothing too exciting for the little Mom and I like that. I have 1 lesson tomorrow and then the cardiologist appointment so we shall see what he has to say. I still say it was just stress that caused the chest pains. I haven't had any since either so that is good.

I hope September brings you joy and happiness for the fall! I so glad the summer is almost over!

Mom is in the hospital again. She was standing next to the tub trying to fix her pants. I asked her to wait a few minutes until I dried my hands. Either she didn't hear me or thought she could fix them herself, but the next thing I know she is inside the tub. She hit her head on the tap and the tub wall. I got her out, I checked for broken bones first and didn't feel any. Her feet were on the tub chair so it was her torso and her arms inside the tub. I got her out, helped her downstairs and off we went to the ER. I cancelled Charlie's lesson when we got there. Good thing, because I left at 6:00 pm and his lesson was supposed to be at 4:30 pm. After numerous X-Rays, blood tests, urine tests, and CT scan, the verdict is she may have had a stroke. No broken bones, no concussion, no urinary tract infection. Thank goodness for all that, but a stroke? Oh my, I am at a loss of words of what to say of that. One area of the CT scan doesn't look good, so the neurologist will look at it tomorrow and determine if a MRI needs to be done or not.

I was able to get a hold of Richard right away which was good. I am to keep him up to date. I called Tillie and left a message for her. Maia isn't home (her daughter told me that. I was talking to her on face book) so I will call her in the morning.

I don't know what else to say. I need to go and clean the bathroom from where Mom fell. Her blood is still on the tub and the toilet because I certainly wasn't going to take time right then to clean it.

I am simply floored. A stroke? WHEN did she have this stroke? I have asked before about strokes because I know vascular dementia can be caused by them. I am at a loss for words. I am going to bed after I clean up.

I called the scooter store parts department and they are sending me out a key. How cool is that? They even still had my scooter info so my run to the car in the heat was for nothing. It is really really hot out right now with high humidity so my head is really sore. It isn't as bad as it was that one day, but it is sore.

I had 1 lesson today. Bob will be here on Wednesday as he was headed to the doctor with a problem of dizziness. Hope he gets that taken care of. Dizziness is not a pleasant thing to have happen to you. Frank started a new piece this afternoon. It is 13 pages long and takes about 15 minutes to play. The look on his face was priceless. It is a variation of Canon in D by David Lantz. He is a new age musician who's music I just love. I just have to find the original book that it is in. I am not sure where I have put it. Katie is coming this Sunday to put the music away! I am very excited about that because then all the music will be where it belongs and I will be able to find out what is missing and what I have. I think I will keep out the Christmas music though because it is almost time for the students to start practicing. I know it is a couple months away before we start practicing, but I will at least have the music all in one place.

Not much going on here today. It is just too hot to venture outside except for our usual. It is supposed to be hotter tomorrow! Ugh! Not fun! I hate the heat. It was so beautiful last week. Well, my season is coming! September is almost here! Wednesday, although it is supposed to be hot then too, but fall is just around the corner!

It has been a pretty good day so far, I had a nap after Mom's bath and so did she. I had a student so that was good. I have a student tomorrow and then 1 on Wednesday too. I also have a lesson on Saturday so that is good. We also have book club on Saturday! Yeah! fun!

I hope you are having a good day too.

It's official. I have lost the keys (naturally both of them) to the scooter. One used to sit on my key chain and I have absolutely no memory of taking it off. I had them on May 25 when I last used the scooter, but have no idea what happened to them since. I called the scooter store (where I got the scooter) and they will call me back tomorrow. I am really upset over this because without those keys, it won't run and there are times when I need it. I don't remember where they could possibly be. I have checked purses and coat pockets where they might be and there is just no answer to the question. They are simply gone. I really hope they are easy to replace. I mean, they are generic keys, one key works on all of them, type thing. But still, how could I have lost them? I am always so careful with them and now I have lost them. I could just scream. The lady on the phone said it shouldn't be a problem. I hope not. I don't need it anytime soon, but you never know when I might. I go to stores that have scooters because, quite frankly, mine is very hard for me to put together because it is so heavy. I need a rest when i am done lifting it out of the car. Kathy did most of the lifting today and poor girl, had to lift it in and then right back out when we realized I didn't have the key to it. It was probably for the best we didn't go to the mall because Mom was so tired when we got back from Walmart and we only went into the pharmacy area. We didn't go through the whole store like Kathy and I normally do.

Mom and I picked up Kathy about 12 noon and went for Applebee's. We had a great time. We got an appetizer of spinach dip and chips. Boy, was that awesome. Mom didn't have any, but I didn't expect her to either. She said she wanted a burger for lunch, so I ordered a burger, knowing that the chances of her eating it was slim. I was right, we have the 2 mini burgers in the fridge for her dinner. She did drink 2 glass of milk though so I was happy. She had had an Ensure before we left so I wasn't worried she would be hungry. She is in the living room right now. I put her in there when we got home around 2:30 thinking she may take a nap. She is still awake, two hours later. She can sleep if she wants or she doesn't have too. It is all up to the little Mom. Kathy and I both got burgers and boy, they were huge and yummy. Yes, I know, not necessarily on the Richard Simmons plan. I also got us Starbucks on the way back to her parents house. I forgot to take the games to Kathy's house. I knew there was something I forgot. I will have to give them to her another time. Maybe Mom and I will take a day trip out there or something. We shall see. We had a great time though. I love spending time with her. I got a brief "hi" out of her girls when I picked up Kathy. She is going to the Disney Store in the mall. Originally, I was going to go with her, but it is probably for the best we didn't go since Mom is so tired. Of course, now so am I.

Anyways, my knee is still sore and being stupid. It is really annoying me, but there isn't anything I can really do about it except take pain pills and try to exercise and massage it, which I do frequently.

Not much happening besides teaching this week. I am looking forward to fall. Only 1 week left and the students will all be back into school. Richard's birthday is Saturday. I won't see him, but I will hopefully talk to him. He is turning 46 years old. It doesn't quite seem possible that he is that old, but he is. Of course, I sometimes feel older and younger all at the same time.

Mom looks really cute in her new hoodie. Kathy thought so too.

Don't forget to check out the online magazine at the National Fibromyalgia Association!!!

www.fmaware.org

Today will be a quiet day for us. Not much going on but that is okay. The bit of excitement we had earlier today was when we were at Tim Horton's and Mom nearly passed out. Fortunately, there was a really nice lady there who told me to go and get Mom seated and she would bring us our tray. She even got Mom's milk out and the straw in for us. Wasn't that the sweetest thing? I mean, really, how nice can you be to complete strangers. Definitely an angel in waiting in her. Mom is still a bit dizzy when she stands. I gave her some of her dizzy medicine. If it doesn't improve, I will have to take her in and I really don't want to do that to her. It is so hard on her in the ER, she doesn't know which way is up and what is going on. But, if it is necessary, I most certainly will have her looked at. We don't need her to have any problems right now. She has enough of them.

Overall, I must say, we have been very lucky. There are SO many nice people out there. We often have doors held for us, or our trays brought to the table to us, and just a host of other things done for us. We are very blessed with that. The people in this area are very nice and friendly to others. Only once can I remember a dirty look from someone when I was taking Mom somewhere. I don't remember where we were, but it was like, why is she out? kind of look, you know what I mean? That was several years ago too and Mom was much better then. Kind of makes me wonder what the woman would think of me bringing Mom out now. Mom enjoys getting out of the house. She is in the living room for her rest time. I will probably join her soon as I am a bit tired today. My knee is pretty sore today. Stupid knee, it was supposed to be better by now like it usually is. Usually the knee acts up for a few days and then goes back to normal. It should be fine in a few more days. It is just a fibro flare up.

Kathy is in town this weekend! Today is her brother's wedding reception. It should be lovely. I bet the family is having a good time. Tomorrow, Kathy and I are going out for a short bit of time. Mom loves visiting with Kathy. She is coming too. I am glad Kathy doesn't mind. She totally understands that I can't leave Mom alone in the house at all. Who knows what I would come home too? I don't mean a messy house or something like that. I mean, would she still be in the house when I got home? She may wander off and that would be bad. She hasn't wandered in a few weeks, but that doesn't mean she is done wandering. Kathy and I are going to Applebee's for lunch/dinner. I am excited about that. I have a gift certificate from Christmas to use! How cool!

I think most of today will be a Walker, Texas Ranger season 8 day. Mom enjoys the show and we are almost done watching the entire series. We then will move on to either Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Mysteries, JAG, TJ Hooker, or Scarecrow and Mrs. King. She loves all of those shows. Today, I am also going to list all of our bills and then pay some. I bought new folders and notebooks to keep better track of our bills. I have done pretty well, but I like to be super organized and I don't feel just keeping the bills on the table is organized enough. They need to be filed and put away when they are paid. I bought a new expandable file (it's pink, of course) for them too. The notebooks are Tinkerbell. She is just wonderful and one of my favorite Disney characters. Of course, we all know that Pooh Bear is my favorite!

I hope this finds you doing well!!!

Mom did awesome with the dentist. She was here for about 30 minutes and Mom did just great. She was scared, but they were really good with her and now the bad teeth are out. Thank goodness we did it time before the infection would get into the bloodstream which is exactly what the dentist was worried about. The teeth were whole too, sometimes they aren't and then that is a problem, but Mom was fine and caught in time! She took 2 children's melt away Tylenol to help with the pain. I hope it doesn't pain her very much today. She seems to be doing just fine right now. She is playing with the Joann's flyer.

My stomach isn't doing too well right now. I took some medicine so I hope it improves shortly. It should, but one never knows.

It is beautiful out again today. This week has been such beautiful weather. Nice and pretty looking and cooler weather!!!! I mean, how can you go wrong with this type weather. It is perfect summer weather for me.

I went grocery shopping alone again!!! Carolyn came to stay with Mom while I went. Fortunately, my tummy got better as I was shopping and now I am back to normal. I joined Sam's Club too. This way we can get our Ensure for Mom in bigger quantities. I also got me an Adkins shakes. I don't know what they taste like but some days I just don't feel like eating much food and these would be good for me. I didn't have too much to buy because really, it wasn't so much we need food as we needed toilet paper and paper towels. That was what we were out of. I plan to do a big shopping of that type of stuff next month at Sam's Club. We have the empty cabinet space in the back room to put them in plus there is room in the upstairs closet, now that we can get to it.

All in all a good day. Mom weighs the same. The nurse just weighed her so she hasn't lost the 2 pounds she gained in the hospital so that is really good. I made her say, "I, Mommy Paxton, am doing really really good today." She repeated after me. I want her to say these things so she realizes how good she is doing.

I hope this finds you doing well too.

The weather is so beautiful out right now that I hope it stays. Okay, I know I am being a little crazy because the weatherman did say it would be hot again next week. Yuck. I don't like being hot. I think I have said this every hot day we have had. I must be a broken record. I have 2 students today, one at 2 pm and the other at 5 pm. I am not visiting my friend for knitting today as she is not feeling too hot. She has a summer cold and we all know how yucky those can be. So, get well soon Heather B-T! I hope it doesn't go through the rest of the family and her little boy and husband don't get it. Her daughter already had it, so hopefully she won't get it again. That's always the worst. You are over it and then, bam! it is back.

Mom is doing fine today, a few meltdowns before she was full because she was hungry. She is hallucinating a bit more today than usual, although right now it is okay and she is not hallucinating. She was about an hour ago and it was making her cry. Poor thing, nothing like hallucinating to begin with but ones that make you cry have got to be worse. At least she isn't frightened by them. Usually she sees people that aren't there. I think she is looking for me and my brothers from when we were smaller. I tell her they went home, much easier than telling her they aren't there because to her, they are there and she can see them. This is very common in stage 6 of Alzheimer's. Very common. She is entertaining herself with an empty envelope. She does this often and I often think, I should just hand her empty boxes and envelopes and stuff for her to play with. Naturally, when I do, she doesn't want to play with them. Just like a child, I guess.

I am tired now. I wasn't earlier when we got up, but I am now. I think after my 2 pm lesson I am going to take a wee nap. I hope Mom takes one too because she didn't nap yesterday and I don't like her not taking a nap 2 days in a row. Just for fun, I am going to map out a way to Seattle, Washington. It is 2400 miles away and a 36 hour drive. Hm, should I just jump in my car with Mom and go? I wish! My brother lives there and I miss his family a lot so does Mom. Andrew is much closer, just a 2 hour drive away. Problem there is he is never home so going to visit him is not too much of an option. I knew that driving straight through to Seattle was about 2 1/2 day drive, but of course I would not be driving straight through, you got to answer Mother Nature, get some sleep, and stretch. It would be bad to drive straight through because by the time I got there I would sleep for a week to recover. The 5 hour plane ride is much better for us. I am hoping we get to see him before Christmas.

I am still waiting on my back disability. I called again today, the gentleman doesn't know what the hold up is either. I hope they call me back like he has asked. I would like to go and see Richard, but I don't think Mom could do a plane trip. It could be hard on her. I don't know. I know Richard said he was coming here before the end of the year, I am just impatient. I miss him and his family a lot, and I mean a lot. Mom misses him too because right now she asks about the boys quite frequently. It is hard to tell her they are away because she cries and I don't like her to cry.

We went out with Aggie after her lesson. It was so fun. She is such a nice young woman. I can't believe she is 20, but she is. Wasn't she just starting high school? I know, I know, time sure does fly. Of course, Abby and William were just babies the other day to me. Now they are 11 and 9. I haven't seen them in over 2 years now. I feel like we are missing so much. Anyways, back to the Aggie girl. We went and had a sandwich and pop with her. We do this before she moves back into school. She leaves for MSU tomorrow. She is starting her junior year already. I don't know how often I will see her for lessons this fall because she is starting to work at Macy's. She is keeping an eye on Christmas turtlenecks for Mom size medium since she often works in women's clothes.

Frank will be here shortly for his lesson. His mom just called, they are near by but stuck in traffic. I know how that goes.

Mom is possible seeing the dentist tomorrow here at our house. The dentist she saw a the nursing home has a mobile practice so she may see her here tomorrow to get those 2 teeth pulled. We will be making an appointment in September for her cleaning and for filling the three teeth. I want her to have the teeth all taken care of because it can cause some serious problems for the little person. I don't want serious problems for the little person. She certainly doesn't need it.

Anyways, I hope this finds you doing well and having a good day. It has been a good one for us too. Going with Aggie, lessons, relaxing, and resting. Lots of fun and relaxation for the day. Tomorrow is also possible grocery shopping unless for sure the dentist is coming, then I may have to cancel shopping and be home.

Face book is being totally stupid at this point. Everything is freezing on me, so forget that for right now! I hate it when it does that. I am not that computer savvy so anything that is out of the ordinary is bad for me.

We are having a pretty good day so far. We had our usual. I forgot to give Mom (and mine) her medicine before we left like I usually do so we had a few meltdowns at the restaurant. She was hungry and having the hunger meltdowns. She was pretty much fine once she finished her food. Of course, it is easier to have her finish her food with medicine already in her. I get so mad when I forget like this because she does feel better with her anxiety medicine. The other two, well, yes she needs them, but they aren't detrimental to her feeling fine like the anxiety medicine. Naturally, as soon as we came home we got our medicines.

We are using a new service at Walmart for the pharmacy. They now call you to let you know your medicine is ready. It is really cool and very helpful. Like I just ordered Mom some anxiety medicine as it is almost (but not quite) empty and the message said tomorrow after 2 pm it would be ready. Well, within a half hour I got a message from them saying it is ready for pick up. How cool is that? We will be going to pick it up tonight I think. I also want to take Mom over to Old Navy as they have hoodies on sale and I want to see what colors and styles they have. Mom wants a pink one, so that is what we are going to get. A new pink hoodie for mom. She needs a few for fall and winter this year as she only has 1 for winter and 2 for fall. For summer we have about 5 or 6 of them, but not the heavier ones that she will need this winter. I am hoping for a nice light blue one too. She looks so cute in hoodies. I would post a picture, but I can't find the cord to the camera and the computer right now. I have been looking but no luck so far. I know it is in a box because I saw the box a while ago. I thought, oh, I will remember this is where the cord is, but no, I do not remember where I saw the cord.

It is a quiet day for us. Angela is on her way for Mom's bath and hair wash. I don't know if Mom will take a nap after that or not. She might. It all depends on how tired the little lady is. If we don't go to Old Navy today that is fine. We can always go Friday. I plan to get her hair cut Friday anyhow so whenever we go is fine as long as we go while the hoodies are on sale. I am not really tired right now, but I thought I wasn't yesterday and I slept for 2 hours. It was very refreshing although sometimes in the afternoon when I sleep my dreams seem so real to me for some reason. I don't have that problem at night, just the afternoon, I wonder why? Hm, who knows. It's me and I do strange things.

It is pretty nice out. We aren't suppose to get heat again until next week. Ugh, I hate the extreme heat we have had this summer. It gives me such headaches.

I am still waiting for the company to call me back about the hospital bed. I want it out of our living room, it is hogging up a huge amount of space that I need for other things, like the children's table and chairs that are strewn in the middle of the room. They are in the way, not to mention the wheelchair of Tillie's is in the hallway and that is so in the way, I hit it every time I go by it. I have a prescription to get Mom a wheelchair that I haven't filled yet. I am going to this week. I don't like the wheelchair of Tillie's as it is too hard to push so I am hoping for one that is easier to push, if not I won't fill the prescription. Mom's orders are for a lightweight chair so I am thinking it should be easier to push and put in the car. Right now my scooter is in the trunk and Mom's walker is in there too. Mom doesn't like her walker and won't use it. I think she should, but she hates it and you can't make someone use something they hate. I have tried and it doesn't work very well. All that happens is that I get upset and so does she. Not very helpful.

My knee is still being stupid. It isn't as bad as yesterday but I was expecting by now it would be better. This is getting ridicules. I mean, really, get better all ready.

I hope this finds you doing well and enjoying your day.