Mom seems to be back to normal today. She brushed her own teeth like she always used to. She came down the stairs no problem. She even got up from her chair a couple of times by herself, with no help from me. She walked around the kitchen by herself too without any guidance. She is definitely having a better day.

I have decided that the hospital bed that was delivered needs to move upstairs because Mom doesn't like being downstairs from me and I am too nervous to leave her on that level by herself. There is just too much that can go wrong. I will see if Mom likes the bed and if it is easier for her. I do like the bed and I will move over Mom's bed and then put the hospital bed next to it. This way both beds will fit in her room and she will be near me. The man that delivered the bed said he could move it anywhere I would like. I will be getting stuff for it this week after our money comes in as it is a different size than a regular twin bed. It is the size of a dorm bed, or an extra long twin and of course, I have no sheets or blankets that size. I also will make up Mom's bed and find her bedspread to cover her old bed this week so that it looks nice and ready to be slept in if someone needs too. We shall see how this works.

It is a better day for me too. I don't feel stressed out like I did earlier in the week. I also learned from my friend, Deb, that us Fibro people can get chest pains that mimic a heart attack but it is just the fibro. I think that is what happened. Yes, I am still going to the heart doctor to make sure my heart is fine, but I do think it was a stress attack and nothing more serious. I have been under stress this summer with all that has gone on. Mom and I need to go away again and have some fun. Next weekend on Sunday shall be fun because Kathy will be in town and she and I always have a blast. I can't wait to see her. I hear Applebee's calling our name. We are going there because it is the last gift certificate I have from last year's Christmas present from my brother's family. I loved the gift cards we got. It was a great idea and Mom and I and Kathy have thoroughly enjoyed using them. I will be starting to save up for Christmas presents when our money comes in. I will be socking away some so that we have enough for our Christmas presents. I am going to get Mom some new books and probably a couple of new outfits or something like that. It is a long time until Christmas so I have plenty of time to shop. I like to start shopping early so that I don't spend as much money and it is spread over time so that I can get what I want for people. This year, we are putting up a tree for the first time in a couple of years, unless we aren't going to be home again. In that case, we will not have a tree depending on when we won't be home. If it is just Christmas day, then we will have a tree, but if it is for a week or so, we won't. Then again, Mom really loves Christmas decorations so we will see what shape she is in. This past year, she has really gone down. It was like she zipped through the end of stage 4, straight through stage 5 and has settled in stage 6. I am hoping she stays here for a while longer. Stage 7 is the last stage and they are usually bed bound and have zero communication skills at that point. At that point I will be able to have hospice here 24/7 to help me. I do hope that stage stays away for a long, long, long time.

We have a different type week for our schedule this week. Monday will be super busy for us. I have my lovely 3 girls lessons, then I have 2 more while Mom has physical therapy and her bath. I am looking forward to the week though. I think on Friday we will have time to get her hair cut. I think she will look so cute with a bob and bangs. I want her hair just below the chin level because she looks so cute with it at that length. She hasn't had bangs in a long time, but I will ask the hair dresser since she is the expert but I think bangs will look cute on her.

We stopped for a treat at Starbucks and they messed up my drink. I was rather mad since they screwed it up, I can't drink it. Mom is slowly drinking her strawberries and cream drink. I wanted a chocolate one, and they made it with coffee. I hate coffee so I didn't drink mine at all. I will let them know next time we go that they messed up.

I got my Richard Simmon's exercise DVD yesterday and the new foodmover. The foodmover is purple, one of my favorite colors. i have already started to use it, although the starbucks was not on the list so I suppose it was better that I didn't get to drink it.

It is nice and cool out today! So beautiful that when we went out I was sad that we couldn't go for a walk. Although Mom is walking quite well today, I don't want to push it and have her fall or anything so no walking for us! I hope this finds you doing well and enjoying your day!

Okay, so, well, as most of you know I didn't feel very well on Thursday. About 6 pm I thought, wow, I really don't feel well and I feel strange so I loaded Mom up in the car and we went to the emergency room. Where I got stuck for an overnight visit. Why me? Can't they just fix me and send me home. I called Tillie to come and take care of Mom for me and she arrived with Maia about 10 minutes after we got in the hospital ER room. I had had a EKG so we waited for about 3 hours before I got a room. Apparently, the EKG was normal because we waited and waited and waited. They couldn't have done anything for me without someone with Mom because they will not leave her in a room by herself. It is a good thing but it does put me in a bind at times. My friend, Heather said next time, call her and they will help figure out what to do with Mom so she is safe and I can get the help I need. I really didn't know what to do with Mom because I knew they wouldn't be able to leave her and if it turned out to be serious, then what. Fortunately, Tillie was available and came over with Maia. They were in the room with me until about 12:30 am when I had to stay the night. I did learn a very important lesson, it is impossible to sleep on a stretcher all night long with no sleeping medicine. I imagine it is difficult in the first place, but no sleeping medicine, that is even worse. Needless to say, I am so exhausted today it is unbelievable. I foresee a long nap in the future this afternoon for me. I foresee one for Mom too. She is so tired too because she had her schedule crazily screwed up because of my ER visit. It was difficult for her to deal with this as she doesn't understand what is going on with everything. She is much better today though. She came down those stairs like usual, I got her dressed like usual without any problem. The only problem she is starting to have is some days she doesn't remember how to brush her teeth. This has been ongoing, so today was no problem. I just brush them for her. I am not that good, but I do get the job done. At least she has clean teeth twice daily. It is important to me that her teeth get down because she has some work that needs to be done and I don't want anymore work than necessary for her, so she has always taken good care of them, now it is my turn.

A social worker is coming her today to speak with us about Mom. It shall be interesting. She should be here very shortly.

Tillie will be going home afterwards. Next week will be a different schedule for Mom. She will have her physical therapy on Monday and Tuesday because Lori is having surgery on her eyes. It is a necessary, not a wanting thing she is getting done. Angela is coming to give Mom a bath on Monday too and I have my lovely Muglia girls on Monday so it is going to be one heck of a day. I can't wait! It will be so fun. I am going to work on some sewing this weekend so I can have Natalie's skirt done. It is almost done, but I have a couple of small things to finish. I have a couple of things to finish on Sarah's skirt too. I can't wait until our schedule calms down a bit, by fall we should be back to normal.

The social worker is going to find out some info for me that I need so that is good. Mom came down the stairs today like normal. She is back on her schedule today. I am glad she is back to her schedule, she is sleeping in the living room right now. I will check on her again shortly.

Angela is here giving Mom her bath and hair wash. She is so good with Mom and Mom can be difficult when she is confused and upset. But from the sounds of it, Mom is doing alright. I think it helped that we went early to Tim Horton's so we would be home by 12 noon for Mom to take a small nap before Angela gets here. When she is done, I will put her in the living room for another little nap before we go to Heather B-T's house.

I am not feeling very well today. I took my vitamin (for macular degeneration) and I had food with it but my stomach is still upset. I don't get it. I did have a major pain on my right side earlier but it is almost gone right now. My head is normal so I don't understand the stomach issue. Whatever, who knows with this stupid illness and everything else that goes with it. It drives me crazy at times and this is one of them. I am slightly dizzy too, but not too much today. If it doesn't improve we won't be able to go anywhere and I want to see my friend and her family. Mom and I so enjoy our visits with them.

Mom didn't do too well on her physical therapy yesterday, she couldn't do much because it was so late in the day. The therapist and I agreed she needs to come earlier because after Mom naps and it gets close to dinner she just can't focus as well to do her exercises.

It is a bit hot out today but it looks absolutely gorgeous out through the windows. Maia's boyfriend, Mark, cleaned the dining room windows. They are wonderful now. I didn't even notice how dirty they were until he did them. He did both sides, inside and out. We have the type of windows that you can do both sides really easy in the house. No need to go outside at all.

I have another load of laundry to do but I need Mom's dirty socks (and mine stuff from yesterday) so I can finish up the laundry. Now that it is caught up, it is really easy to do. I do about 2 loads a week, sometimes 3 and that's that. Pretty cool, huh? With just the two of us, we don't have much laundry like we did when 4 of us lived here. I remember having to do about 2 loads per day just to keep up. Now it is a piece of cake thanks to Maia and Calli. Calli brought most of my clothes upstairs for me. That was really nice of her. I just have 2 baskets that need to be emptied. I need to clean out 2 drawers this weekend and then the clothes can go in them and it will be up to date in the Heather room.

Not much going on right now with Mom getting her bath and hair done. We do have a busyish type day though which is very nice. Tomorrow, not so much busy because all we have is the physical therapist coming. I am planning to finish Natalie's skirt so it will be ready for her for Monday when I finally get to see my girls! I can't wait! It has been an entire month since I have seen them. I should know in the next few weeks what our sewing schedule will be. We haven't sewn since June and that is just too long for me. I miss my girls a lot. They are such nice young ladies and they are so eager to learn. I can't believe the twins will be in 9th grade and Lydia is in 8th grade this year. High school already and close to high school. Crazy if you ask me, simply crazy.

Next week I am going to get a memory card for the camera. I am going to take pictures of the violins and violas and then post them. Once I have a memory card I will be able to post pictures of stuff and that will be fun. I think I know how, it is just a matter of getting the memory card. It is a pink camera! I love pink!

I hope this finds you doing well and having a good day. I hope by the time we are ready to leave I will feel better. So far, it isn't looking to good, but, hey, I have some time before we leave.

I am waiting for the physical therapist to call to come here. She varies her times so I don't know when to expect her. I hope she comes unlike last Wednesday she didn't get to Mom, her schedule was just too full. We had to skip one last week, which I don't like, but we aren't home Thursday afternoons, we just aren't. I already have plans and her day is Wednesday, not Thursday. She did come Friday though which was good.

So far today Mom has been feeling very anxious and nervous for some unknown reason. She had a few meltdowns at Tim Horton's, not the hunger kind, or the thirsty kind, just the unknown kind. I asked her if she was nervous and she said yes. I gave her medicine when we came home for that. She isn't feeling nervous and anxious now and she hasn't melted down since.

She hasn't been drinking as much as she used to and that is bad. Yesterday she only drank 1 ensure and that is the lowest in a while. She was up to 3 to 4 a day, but now she is back to 1 to 2 a day. I have to get her back up because she has a new sore on her tailbone, it is tiny and I would like to keep it that way.

I was able to go to the store without Mom last night because our neighbor came over and stayed with Mom for an hour. I was so thankful for that because I needed to get a few things and Mom just wouldn't be able to do it. I have to ride in a scooter and can't push her in the wheelchair which is what she needs. She did rip a page out of my bookkeeping book for lessons, and it was a page I use. I was not happy but what can I do? I have since moved it even further away from her. She did pretty well though and I was back within an hour. It was nice to scooter around the store without her for a change. I even stopped to get a Starbucks! What a treat!

I am tired today for some reason. I didn't nap yesterday but I did get up early and didn't sleep very well so that is probably why. I plan to move us into the living room for a rest after I am done here. It is a dull day here as we don't have anything except physical therapy. I am hoping for a few more lessons come this fall, but if not, that is alright, we are doing okay now that the car is paid for. Boy does that help a lot. I can catch up bit by bit on medical bills because of that. I have to call the dentist for Mom today because I need to make payment arrangements and an appointment to have her 2 teeth pulled and 3 teeth filled. 2 are new fillings and 1 is an old one that fell out. I have known about that one for a while but we haven't had any money to do anything about that. With payment arrangements I will be able to get her teeth fixed before she has any problems with them. I hope to do this in September or October latest. Yes, August would be best but we haven't finished paying for the visit to the nursing home in June but I will find out about when we can have the appointment today.

It is nice out. It is a bit warmer than it was yesterday but the humidity is low. It is possible rain today, but since we are home all day, I don't mind. I hope this finds you doing really well and having a good day.

Don't forget to check out the National website and their online magazine!!!

www.fmaware.org

We went to the doctors for a check up from the hospital for Mom this morning. She is doing alright. They took some blood to check for infection and dehydration and if there is a problem, they will call, otherwise, no news is good news from that end. I don't expect any problems, she is doing quite well. In fact, right now, she is taking a wee nap in the living room. I don't put her upstairs because she is comfortable in the living room and I don't want her to do the stairs too many times a day unnecessarily. I also take my wee naps in the living room as the furniture is rather comfy. I have one student today. Hm, I just realized that I had placed an order with Pepper music and I haven't gotten it yet. I will have to call and find out what happened. This is strange as they always send stuff right away. I don't need the music this week, but I will next week or the week after as Charlie is almost done with the book and we will need the new one. I will find out shortly what happened to my order.

Just checked, somehow they listed it as a "quote" order, whatever that means. I fixed it, they are sending me the music. I need those books! Well, it has been straightened out and they are shipping it out so I will get it soon.

Acer had his first lesson yesterday. He is quite a musically talented young man. At 5, yes, I said, 5 years old, he can plunk out on the piano any melody he hears. The challenge for the young gentleman will be using the proper fingering. He and his sister are so musically talented it is unbelievable. I love all my students and each one of them is gifted in some way, whether it be with sight reading, enthusiasm, or some other way, Acer's is definitely is by ear which will, in the end, serve him quite well. Frank plays rather well by ear now too as he has figured out some songs on the radio and can play them. I just love teaching. Mom sits in on every lesson and seems to like the music they play, even the exercises. She, usually, sits quietly and listens, although there are the times when I have to remind her to be quiet and listen. Fortunately, that isn't too often. She is a quiet person most of the time and usually only talks to me these days. She did talk to Wendy at tea a bit today which was good.

We met with my friend, Wendy, at a different Tim Horton's (it's closer to Wendy's house) for tea after the doctors. It was quite fun. I enjoy visiting with her and hearing about what is going on in her and her children's life. Today, they were with Grandma and Grandpa going to a movie. That will be fun for them. We visited for just over an hour when we both had to go. Mom was getting tired and Wendy had to get some things done before children get home but it was a nice visit.

Today has been a rather nice day. It is beautiful out, not too hot, not too cold, and a nice cool breeze. The sun is shining and Mom is having a good day. I don't know if she would be up for a trip to the store though. I need to go as she is almost out of ensure and I am almost out of Tylenol PM and pop so that it is a necessary trip. I called our neighbor to see if she could stay for a brief period. I left a message so if she can't that is okay, Mom and I will figure something out together. Maybe Mom will want to go with me. I don't know. She is walking better. The pop I can live without but not the ensures and the Tylenol PM. Those things we will definitely need by the end of the week. Somehow it will all work out. It always does! It isn't time for a big shopping so that is good, just a couple of things. I think I need to get a membership to Cosco or Sam's club as they have bigger supplies of the ensure that we need and it would be nice if I could get a month's supply at a time when I do the big shopping. We also are going to need TP. I am getting this shopping every month thing down pat in some ways and other ways, not so good. I clear out the supply of Ensure whenever we go to the store but it never is enough for the month, usually good for a week and a half. Oh well, I will worry about it later. We still have enough for today and tomorrow then I will have to worry.

I hope this finds you doing well and enjoying a beautiful day!

Yesterday was a busy day. We got up at our usual time, fortunately, I didn't have a big headache, just the regular one. Off we went to my Uncle's house. We stopped at Tim Horton's on the way for brunch as we hadn't eaten yet that day. We got to my uncle's around 2 pm at the same time as Tillie and Andrew! It was really funny. So while I helped Mom in Andrew took my stuff in. Mom was tired yesterday so I think that was why she had trouble walking at times. It was really bad when we left. Michelle carried her most of the way to the car and carried her into the car seat. It worked. When we got home, Mom's friend, Jose was waiting for us. He helped Mom in the house so that was good. He stayed for about an hour and then Mom and I went to bed right after he left. We were both pretty tired.

We got up a little earlier than usual because I thought the home health care aide, Angela, would be here at noon so we also did a drive through instead of eating inside. She is running a bit behind today. It doesn't really matter today because nobody else but students will be here. Once Mom is finished with her bath, I am putting her in the living room for a nap. We both are a bit tired now. We had a big week this past week. This week will be less busy. Mom keeps wanting to get out of her chair. I don't know where she wants to go, but hey, if she wants to walk around she certainly can.

Yesterday was a good day mostly. Only a little bit of criticism, not a lot like before. I was glad of that. I really couldn't have handled more. Michelle trimmed Mom's nails for me, which was really nice of her to do. Trying to keep them clean is difficult because Mom won't let me soak her hands, she just can't handle it so they are a bit dirty. Doesn't bother me because I know there isn't too much I can do about it. I am doing the best that I can. Mom did pretty well going up the stairs last night.

I am really not wanting to move Mom down in the living room because she needs the exercise going up the stairs. It is good for her at this point. Yes, at some time it will be not good for her, but right now she can do it even if it is hard for both of us. Her muscles are getting stronger with the exercises that we do so she doesn't always have a hard time, only when she is really tired. On those nights we go up earlier before she gets that tired. The physical therapist also doesn't want Mom downstairs either, she says she needs to exercise of going upstairs so I am keeping her close to me. Besides, if she is downstairs there are plenty of opportunity for her to leave the house without me knowing. She could get lost and lots of things could happen to her, like she could leave in the middle of night in the middle of winter without a coat and die. It happened to 2 families this past winter near by. I don't have gates big enough to block her it, they just don't make them that big. I have to look at the big picture here. I can't have her downstairs because of this issue, safety for her. We are doing alright going up at night time and coming down in the morning has been a breeze most of the time for her.

Mom is still finishing her milk from this morning. The downside to eating at home instead of the restaurant is that Mom never finishes her food here at home. It is really annoying, but true so I don't like to eat at home for brunch because I want her to finish her meal She ate 1/2 of her muffin and is still working on the 8 oz of milk. I hope she finishes it before Angela arrives, if not I am putting it into the fridge because it is time to work on getting 3 or 4 ensures down her today. That is my goal. I want her to finish that many because she is starting a new sore and we know that the protein will heal it fast. She ate pretty good the last couple days so I hope to continue this pattern.

I am finishing up the new book club book. It is a good one and I have picked the new one for next time to read. It was such a good book and it has a guide for book clubs in the back. How cool is that?

Much nicer weather out today. It has cooled off and the humidity is low so that is really good and I hope it stays that way for a while. I don't want another week of headaches. Saturdays was a big one. I hope this finds you doing well.

Saturday

I have the biggest headache I have had in a long time. It better go away soon because I am not happy about it. Not that anyone would be happy about a big headache.

We had lunch at Laura's! Despite the headache from this stupid hot and humid weather and we had a blast. I haven't seen her in so long that it was really nice to see her and catch up. Mom is still sleeping in the living room from the luncheon. She made us a really yummy pasta salad and homemade blueberry coffee cake that was so good! She gave us 4 pieces to take home and eat. They won't last too long around here! Mom and I will definitely polish them off.

We had such a good week with being busy again! Tomorrow is off to my uncle's. I have some stuff I have to wash to give back to Michelle, but other than that, we don't have anything to bring. One of these trips I am going to make a cake and bring it. I have to get a new cake plate and cover first though, mine went when the kitchen was being downsized. Somethings should have stayed though. Oh well, I will get a new one and that will be fine.

I have to do some grocery shopping this week because we are running out of important things like pop and blue berries! I think Mom can go for those two things. I have ordered her some of the stuff we usually have to run out to get, but now we will get them in the mail so that is better and shipping was $2 which is about what I would spend in gas to get the stuff.

We have a slightly crazy schedule next week. Monday and Thursday will be Mom's bath. Wednesday and Friday will be the nurse and the physical therapy. I have lessons on Monday and Tuesday this week and 1 on Saturday. I truly can't wait until fall for more lessons. I have emailed a couple of students to find out their plans for fall and their schedule. I just called one former student to see if I can get my 2 books I need back. That would be nice and I really need them. That is the hard part of lessons, when students quit and my music goes with them.

I hope the rest of your evening is going well. I have to go and lay down some more, my head is just too bad today.

Mom is getting a shower. We have a home health care aide here to help Mom. It is such a relief to have some help. She is very nervous and I am downstairs out of the way. The nurse is one her way too, so we may have some overlapping in time. Oh well, can't help that. Mom will look awfully spiffy when she is done. I picked out a cute t-shirt for her and she is wearing her new maroon hoodie. I just love her in hoodies. She looks so cute. I can hear her crying because she is nervous but I know she will be fine in a bit.

The nurse has arrived too. Oh my! Our house is getting crowded and the Physical Therapist is on her way.

We had all 3 people at the same time today. Not too much overlapping. The nurse checked Mom before Angela dressed her so that was good for Evelyn and Mom. Lori arrived right when Evelyn and Angela were finishing up. I now have Mom's schedule. Angela is going to come Mondays and Thursdays around noon time. Evelyn is coming the same days as Lori, Wednesdays and Fridays. That leaves Tuesdays open for sewing with the girls so far. Let's hope it works for them too. I am not sure about their schedule, but I will find out. Ugh, as much as I want help, scheduling can be a bit of a problem. Mom is so wiped out from the bath that she is taking a nap. I don't usually like her taking a nap at 5:30 pm but she was falling asleep in her chair and that is not good so I had no choice. With Angela coming at around noon time now, she will have her regular nap time after her shower or bath. Mom smells so nice with the freshness of the bath. We both have fresh heads too. I did my hair after she got her hair and bath done. Mom was afraid of the water coming down on her so Angela did it from the bath tub and used a cup to rinse her head. She should get used to it very soon.

I am tired today too. I took a nap this afternoon. I have been taking naps more often right now, I don't know why, but I am more tired these days than usual. I think the heat and humidity has made me ache more which makes me more tired.

I had to take another pain pill today because of the pain in the head. It is supposed to cool down this weekend and next week so I should get some relief. Thank goodness for that.

We have a busy weekend ahead. I am excited about that. We are going to Laura's for lunch tomorrow and to my Uncle John's for dinner on Sunday. Very busy, rather exciting. Not much time for naps though, but if Mom gets tired, she can sit on Laura's and Uncle John's couches and take a nap so can I if necessary at my Uncle's house. I also have 1 lesson at noon tomorrow. How exciting is that? I haven't seen Laura in a long time so catching up with her will be a lot of fun. We saw my Uncle a few weeks ago. I am not sure if Andrew will be there, but Nicole and her children may be so that will be cool.

I hope this finds you doing well and staying cool. It has been a really hot summer so far. I need some relief.

We had a good day. I will write about it tomorrow as my wrist is really sore and now so is my head. I hope you had a good day too!

We just came back from Mom's Neurologist appointment. She was shocked at how thin Mom was. I explained what has happened since we last saw her and she was surprised. She would like to know when Mom goes into the hospital. I will call her and keep her updated if there is a next time. As for the crying and anxiousness, she has add Lorazapan again, this time with the heriparodol. (however you spell them) She use them as needed so probably every morning she will need it until she calms down and then probably as she needs them. I feel so bad for her, she wakes up to tears and goes to sleep to tears. Well, hopefully this will help the little Mom. We are having a good day so far, she has only cried a bit and once in the doctor's office. I have to have her gain at least 10 pounds so that she is up to close to 100 pounds. It is actually 13 because she weighs 87 pounds right now.

We will have a home care worker for several weeks this time. I was smart and did not turn this help down. Her name is Angela and she is the daughter of the previous nurse, Sherri. We really liked Sherri but she is going on vacation so no new patients for her. I will keep her number though for the future reference. Angela is coming on Friday to give Mom a shower and do her hair. I am excited for this. She knows we have a shower chair and that we have a regular shower head and not a hand held. We have tried to change it, but we need a plumber because of the type ours is. Something doesn't come out when it should type thing. I can't afford a plumber right now, so it isn't going to get done at this point. Maybe in the future. We shall see.

I took a good nap today. I had some really weird dreams though. Not that that is unusual, I have often have weird dreams in the afternoon. Mom slept a bit too, not sure how much since I was asleep. She just stayed in her chair while I rested and then we went to the doctor's. Tomorrow is a big day and I am so excited for it. First up is the blood test, okay, I am not excited about that. But then, we are meeting Mike for lunch! We haven't seen him in 2 years so how cool is that? Then Zachary has a lesson and lastly we head for Heather B-T's for knitting. I love busy days like this. Somewhere in here I have to fill a prescription for Mom's new medicine. I will fit it in somehow. I figure we will drop it off in the morning and pick it up in the evening or drop it off this evening. That will work perfectly. Tomorrow will be the 2nd time in a week that I will be going to Max and Erma's! Tillie and I went there on Sunday. I hadn't been there in 2 years and now I am going 2 times in one week. Go figure!

It is really hot out right now. I hate this kind of weather. It is really bad, super hot and muggy. It looks like it is going to downpour soon. Probably will. I hope this finds you doing well and staying cool! It sure has been a hot summer so far! My head is pounding from all this humidity and mugginess. I am used to it to some degree, but still, it is a drag to have a pounding headache instead of just an ordinary headache during the day.