Gosh it doesn't seem like over a week since I last posted. The week before New Years my Mother-in-Law was hospitalized for pneumonia. She turned 90 in September and as you can see may weigh 100 pounds. She has COPD from being around second hand smoke most of her life so her lungs are fragile at their best. I have spent much time with her over the past week and it just breaks my heart. The medicine made her mind not work correctly, so I caught lots of bugs for her but refused to go into the corn field to help cut fodder Told her I had on good shoes. She said OK it was men's work anyway. I am not making fun of her but it is easier to laugh than cry.
Dennis would fuss at me cause I humored her, what am I supposed to do? When she would get really agitated I started reading the bible and that calmed her down. Then we would talk about the passage I read. (It was the Gideon's Bible so it was like reading something totally new.) The word of God is powerful no matter what version you read.
Tomorrow we sign paper to place her in a nursing home, I hope for just a short time. I hope she regains strength and can go back to the assisted living. I do wish I could take her her but we live in a tri level and with my arm it wouldn't work.
Pleas put her in your prayers, Dennis too this is very had on him.
Thanks
4 comments:
Oh, I do hope she can go back to assisted living very soon, Mari. I'll be thinking about you and Dennis. This has to be hard on both of you.
P.S. You probably gave her a great deal of comfort by helping her catch those bugs and get corn. Even not being able to go out in the field in your good shoes was something she recognized, and it made her comfortable. She may not remember all this once she gets better, but she'll remember that you are there when she needs someone :)
Sorry to hear about your mother in law. She is lucky to have you and I am sure you help her with reading the bible and sitting with her. Sending healing thoughts her way.
I hope you guys found a good nursing home. Bless her heart. The best nursing homes are around where you guys live, DONT come to Louisville for a nursing home. I cant tell you of a perfect one...they ALL understaff continually and that leads to bad patient care. Thats another thing to watch with the nursing home, and get on them about it. they WILL purposefully understaff to save money. Its not that they have no help, they wont work the help they have and wont hire new help. Keep on em! My husband goes thru this at his nursing home job daily and I went thru it for years when I could work. I know how they run.
Bless you guys, your MIL looks so sweet I could just hug her to pieces, and your not wrong for going along with her delusions. You certainly dont want to center her back in reality that would agitate her worse...in nursing they tell us to focus on the here and now and bring the resident back to reality well every time I ever tried I either got slapped or yelled at by the resident so I just play into it...what does it hurt really? These are their last days ya know if they think they are going out to pick corn let em.
And you always get that one resident who is waiting for the bus/train/whatever to come pick em up. Its so cute...they just sit there waiting, and sometimes they will ask you when such-and such bus is coming thru LOL I miss nursing homes....
Your family is in my prayers, mari. I know how hard that can be, but keep humoring her, because there is no reason to make her feel like she is losing her mind and upsetting her. Good luck!
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