WAHOO!!
John did it!
He had his final board of review two weeks ago. HE is now an EAGLE Scout!!
I am soo very proud of him! We won't know the date of his Eagle Court of Honor until later.
Great Job John!!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Yikes! It has truly been AWHILE!!
Oh my Goodness!
It has truly been a long while since I last posted!
Sorry! My bad!
I'm still here!
The last year plus has been a blur of all sorts of events.
My father-in-law passed away in early June 2010 after a long struggle with cardiac problems. Mimi, my mother-in-law, suffers from Alzheimer's. We had put in place in-home care for her both during the daytime and at night. She didn't like the idea of having 'someone watch her day and night'; not to mention, she balked at the cost. What she couldn't comprehend was that care was truly necessary. But what can you do? You have to give a little sometimes to keep everyone happy or at least reasonably so.
We dropped two days a week of the daytime care while supplementing additional extended visits that we would make each week. This meant making sacrifices and doing some extreme juggling of schedules.
Then, she fell in early November. We think she either slipped on the small kitchen rug by the sink or her leg just gave out on her and caused her to lose her balance and fall. Yes, she had a LifeAlert on; however, she forgot she had it. The fall occurred within 30 minutes of us having been with her. The night-time aide arrived and found her on the floor. She sustained a left tibial plateau fracture---in layman's terms, she broke her left knee by shearing off the bigger bone right below the knee--a nasty fracture!
Someone aged 30 -50 who leads an active lifestyle would undergo surgery (pinning and plating), be off it (non-weight-bearing) for three months, go through rehab....but an 89 year-old woman with severe osteoporosis who's mobile --you can't have them off it for three months and expect them to ever walk again. For them to ever have the chance at walking again, you have to make them bear weight on it as early as post-op day two and begin rehab.
Which is what we did. Surgery. Rehab. Trust me the path included both major and minor bumps along the way. If there is a positive to be drawn from this, it would be that all of the family finally came to the agreement that Mimi just could not remain living alone in her home. All agreed that once her stint at rehab is finished, she would go to an assisted living/nursing---where ever her needs placed her.
Well, a month ago, that would have been nursing home. Totally not what she wanted. Granted she wanted to go home. But finally, we got her to admit/agree that wouldn't be the best. We also explained to her what she had to be able to do without assistance (consistently) to be considered for assisted living. Meanwhile, insurance and Medicare have a say in how long one is allowed to stay in rehab--or at least under their nickel. LOL
I am happy to say that she passed whatever test to be considered for assisted living versus requiring the nursing care. She is still pretty much wheelchair bound, but she is able to do her own transfers. She will continue with physical therapy and begin learning to use a walker over the next several months. And I'm even happier to say that she officially moves into her brand new assisted living apartment tomorrow. YES, tomorrow!! Granted it is only one or two floors up from the rehab floor and room where she is currently....but to her, it is HUGE.
We moved some select pieces of furniture from her house to the new apartment on Wednesday. We packed several boxes of personal items; some of the boxes we have unpacked for her and some she will have the honor. She is very excited. We bought her a brand new 37 inch flat screen TV and a mini microwave. She won't have a cooktop or stove. We still need to get her a small drop-leaf style table. Hopefully, as she gets more settled, we will be able to go from twice daily visits to possibly three times a week.
Baby steps!!
It has truly been a long while since I last posted!
Sorry! My bad!
I'm still here!
The last year plus has been a blur of all sorts of events.
My father-in-law passed away in early June 2010 after a long struggle with cardiac problems. Mimi, my mother-in-law, suffers from Alzheimer's. We had put in place in-home care for her both during the daytime and at night. She didn't like the idea of having 'someone watch her day and night'; not to mention, she balked at the cost. What she couldn't comprehend was that care was truly necessary. But what can you do? You have to give a little sometimes to keep everyone happy or at least reasonably so.
We dropped two days a week of the daytime care while supplementing additional extended visits that we would make each week. This meant making sacrifices and doing some extreme juggling of schedules.
Then, she fell in early November. We think she either slipped on the small kitchen rug by the sink or her leg just gave out on her and caused her to lose her balance and fall. Yes, she had a LifeAlert on; however, she forgot she had it. The fall occurred within 30 minutes of us having been with her. The night-time aide arrived and found her on the floor. She sustained a left tibial plateau fracture---in layman's terms, she broke her left knee by shearing off the bigger bone right below the knee--a nasty fracture!
Someone aged 30 -50 who leads an active lifestyle would undergo surgery (pinning and plating), be off it (non-weight-bearing) for three months, go through rehab....but an 89 year-old woman with severe osteoporosis who's mobile --you can't have them off it for three months and expect them to ever walk again. For them to ever have the chance at walking again, you have to make them bear weight on it as early as post-op day two and begin rehab.
Which is what we did. Surgery. Rehab. Trust me the path included both major and minor bumps along the way. If there is a positive to be drawn from this, it would be that all of the family finally came to the agreement that Mimi just could not remain living alone in her home. All agreed that once her stint at rehab is finished, she would go to an assisted living/nursing---where ever her needs placed her.
Well, a month ago, that would have been nursing home. Totally not what she wanted. Granted she wanted to go home. But finally, we got her to admit/agree that wouldn't be the best. We also explained to her what she had to be able to do without assistance (consistently) to be considered for assisted living. Meanwhile, insurance and Medicare have a say in how long one is allowed to stay in rehab--or at least under their nickel. LOL
I am happy to say that she passed whatever test to be considered for assisted living versus requiring the nursing care. She is still pretty much wheelchair bound, but she is able to do her own transfers. She will continue with physical therapy and begin learning to use a walker over the next several months. And I'm even happier to say that she officially moves into her brand new assisted living apartment tomorrow. YES, tomorrow!! Granted it is only one or two floors up from the rehab floor and room where she is currently....but to her, it is HUGE.
We moved some select pieces of furniture from her house to the new apartment on Wednesday. We packed several boxes of personal items; some of the boxes we have unpacked for her and some she will have the honor. She is very excited. We bought her a brand new 37 inch flat screen TV and a mini microwave. She won't have a cooktop or stove. We still need to get her a small drop-leaf style table. Hopefully, as she gets more settled, we will be able to go from twice daily visits to possibly three times a week.
Baby steps!!
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