This week has been another learning experience. When I was a young woman, I watched my grandmother, who was a nurse, take care of her mother as she was dying at age 93. It was difficult to watch my great grandmother declining day by day….eating and drinking less and less, moving less and less, fighting […]

The nurse aide at Cardinal Hill was right. My back is sore. And so are my upper arms and shoulders. But hey, I have been sore before the same way from things like pulling weeds and gardening. No big deal. But it does make me mad that Medicare would only pay for a cheap hospital […]

A nurse for my mother in law told me that it is standard practice for a hospital or nursing home to ‘peel back’ medications that a patient is taking in order to determine if they are on the right medication and dosage. Sounds dangerous to me. Especially in my mother in law’s case. I can’t […]

This week I learned that I need to bring my mother in law home as soon as possible. They prepped her to give her a colonoscopy at St. Joe even though we told them not to. And they were not giving her one of her blood pressure medications that she has been on for years […]

Yesterday at 12:34 pm, as I was working to put together a cook out to celebrate Father’s Day with our two sons and three grandsons, my father, and step mother and daughter in law, I received a phone call from a woman who wanted to know my mother in law’s Medicare number. She didn’t identify […]

Cardinal Hill is a great place to test your sense of direction. I failed my test. Even when I followed the exit signs, I have come out a new door each of the two times I have been to visit Marjorie since they moved her to the Skilled Rehabilitation Unit yesterday. And I won’t even […]

Marjorie, my mother in law, is improving. Yesterday she complained about the food and how they do things, which is a sure sign that she wants to come home as soon as possible. An occupational therapist met us in Marjorie’s room at 9:00 am yesterday, Saturday, to help us understand what Marjorie can and cannot […]

My mother in law’s fall has caused me to be even busier than before. I have been going to the hospital and now the rehab every day for over a week and a half. Except for one other day and today. Today I have a sore throat, a headache and a stomach ache. Even after […]

My mother in law, Marjorie, fell last Wednesday evening. We arrived home after our drive from the club and I gave her my arm for support as I always do. We entered the house through the garage door as we always do. She took hold of the coat closet door knob after entering and after […]

My sons are aged 33, 31, and 27 now. While they were growing up, I put their needs above my own and worked without pay 24/7/365 to make sure they were healthy, clean, well fed, and educated. I worked at a paying job too during some of those years, but my sons always came first […]