Today's move...well, it was an unmitigated disaster. Suffice it to say that we are still not finished...I don't even think half of the house was moved. I'm so exhausted, frustrated and angry about it that I cannot see straight.
The good news from the day...we worked out the commode issue with the hospital staff. It was one particular nurse who did not want to deal with it, but after I spoke to him at 3:30 am...I think he realized his attitude was a problem. Mom is definitely coming home on Friday. She seems to be doing well, but they have not identified the cause of her nausea/dizziness.
Our mover arrived late this morning...no real shock, since he is usually late, but I had asked him to be careful about time because I wanted everything finished by 7:00 for the children. He said "no problem." He arrived at my parents' house at 9:30 to pick up a few things, and then they headed straight for the rental house to unload. They were out of the house at 10:30, so I expected to see them at 10:45! We waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. It was 12:15 before they arrived at our house. I was quite unhappy, but he assured me they would have everything finished.
I again reiterated the importance of being done tonight and early because of the children. By 1:30, they had the first load packed up, and we headed back to the rental house. The lead guy said he had to run a quick errand and he would meet us there. Unfortunately, that was the last time I saw him until after 7:00 pm, and the move went terribly wrong in his absence.
The guys unloaded the truck fairly quickly, and I did my best to quickly unpack as many boxes as possible. They were ready to head back to the house at 2:45. On our way back, they decided to stop for food. I made it home by 3:15, but did not see them again until after 4:00. Over the next 2 1/2 hours, things quickly deteriorated. I sent Micah up to the new house with Megan, and I realized they would never get everything finished.
They were packing up all the things I had asked to be left behind. I had spent HOURS sorting through hand-me downs and give aways, separating the clothes, and sorting maternity clothes for a friend who was pregnant...and they dumped everything together in one big box and put it on the truck! I was LIVID. They kept apologizing, but I was outraged at all the wasted time...both for them and for me.
All I know is that it took them 2 1/2 hours to pack up Micah's room and our closet...one small closet, one big closet, and his furniture. I cannot for the life of me understand what took so long. It took them less than an hour to pack up twice as much stuff the first time around. In the midst of all of this, I was handling some other problems...mom's equipment delivery. The hospital bed arrived...without the air mattress. The wrong commode was delivered, and the lift was incorrect. The other equipment was missing. We spoke to the social worker, and supposedly this will all be corrected in the morning. We'll see - I don't have a lot of faith in anyone getting these types of things right. We also learned that they were going to release her tomorrow, but later than we had hoped. There was a problem with her medicine prescriptions but we got that corrected.
At 6:30, they were ready to head back to the rental house. I was inside the house, trying to nurse Maya, figure out what things I needed to take and how to get them in the car with the baby. I was overwhelmed. I sat in the house trying to gather myself for the next 20 minutes. I spoke to my parents and to DH, and I was so upset that it was so late and we were nowhere near finished. When I finally gathered myself, I realized that the guys had not even left with our stuff! They were still parked in the driveway. I yelled at them, went back inside to start pulling my things together, and then I left. I arrived at the new house around 7:00...and the truck was nowhere to be seen. It was nearly 8:00 before they arrived.
They quickly unloaded and left again, this time with DH to monitor the packing up at the house. DH also needed to head out to go pick up the ramps for our house, too. Since he was gone, I had to deal with putting two cranky children to bed. I went to Micah's room, and I realized I had to unpack it first! I emptied 6 boxes while he watched Sesame Street. I made his bed, I hunted down his pajamas and medication, and I tried to make things perfect for him. Unfortunately, there was no way for DH to be back to put him to bed...and Micah much prefers Daddy at bedtime most nights.
My father showed up and kept Maya busy while I got Micah ready. He wailed and cried and hollered and screamed. I had to decide whether to let him stay up with me and wait for DH, or see if he could cry it out. I opted for crying it out...I hope it wasn't too traumatic for him. He cried for about 45 minutes, on and off. Every time I thought he was quiet, he started again. A few times, I let him know I was here, but I thought that going back in to his room would just make it worse. My father left to go home sometime around 9:30 or 10, and Micah finally crashed. The baby intermittently slept and woke, too. DH got home around 12, and he still had to unload the car. I heard him setting up ramps, but I was asleep on the couch for a few hours, only waking to nurse and cuddle the baby a few times.
The movers never returned again last night. I have no idea if they finished packing up the house, or when/if they'll show up with our things. We need our food and dishes, our offices, and our carpets. There is still an entertainment stand, 2 couches, an ottoman, and a glass table that need to come over, two more bathrooms that needed to be packed up, the kitchen, and we have to drive out to a friend's at some point to pick up a dining room table. I have a feeling a ton of stuff we were leaving behind is going to show up here, and somehow, the "important" things will be left behind.
I spoke to my mom a number of times today - she sounded better as the day continued. I know that she had a few visitors, but I'm not certain how many. I was a little caught up in the drama here.
All I know is that tomorrow I'm going to be racing against the clock by myself trying to unpack and put everything away here. I think Christin, our Friday babysitter, will be here to help with the children. My father and DH will have to go without me to go pick up my mother - I just don't see how this house will be ready if I go, too. I'm frustrated - I wanted to be there to talk to the doctors, make sure everything was set correctly and say goodbye to everyone. I have a feeling a bunch of things will be a mess at check-out because I'm here. I am hoping that the health care company will drop off the rest of Mom's equipment, and I'm hoping that the mover will show up with the rest of our stuff.
The only other good news today? The phone/cable company delivered services as promised. We have working television, internet and phone service at the house. DH and I were able to port our home number to the rental house, so our contact information remains the same. My cell phone, however, is on the fritz...I cannot answer any calls right now. I'm going to try to get back to sleep. My allergies are killing me...moving is not good for dust. We need to do a lot more cleaning in this house, too, but hopefully we can make it manageable for Mom by tomorrow.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Hospital, Moving & SUBs
I'm sure most of you are interested in an update about my Mom, so I thought I'd lead with that. She is doing well, but we still do not have an answer about what is going on with her. I don't think she slept particularly well last night...she called me at 8:30, 10:30, 1:30, 5:30, and 8:30. Maya woke up again for the first time at 5:00 am, but she immediately fell back to sleep until 8:30. Micah woke up right at 9, and we raced around getting the children ready. Yesterday, we had the pest control specialist kill off the spiders in the house, so today, we asked our cleaning lady to meet me at the house at 10:00 to dust and vacuum and get rid of the spiders and cobwebs.
Because of this appointment, I did not get to the hospital until 1:00. The nurse did a quick interview/exam of Maya, and then gave us permission to bring Maya back to Mom's room for the day! When I arrived, there was a note from one of my mom's friend's daughter that she had been by to visit, but Mom was getting an EEG. I was able to meet with the doctor right when I arrived. He said that her MRI and CT scan both looked good, and he briefly discussed sending her back to the nursing home tomorrow. I explained to him that it would not be in our interest for her to go back to the nursing home for 24 hours, and he readily agreed. Instead, they will be keeping Mom at the hospital at least until Friday.
Our biggest concern is that they have no explanation for why Mom is experiencing headaches, nausea and vomiting all of the sudden. They tried increasing her steroids...but there have been no improvements. We had hoped her symptoms would improve with the antibiotics to treat her UTI, but so far we've not seen any improvements. They did an EEG, but we had not heard the results by the time I left today. We have one possible theory left...they put Mom on an anti-anxiety medication almost two weeks ago, and it is possible that the nausea and vomiting are just simply side effects from that medication. I am a bit nervous for them to release her home without identifying the source of her new neurological symptoms.
Lately, Maya has become the queen of SUBs...and for those of you unfamiliar with this term, it was coined by our friends, and it stands for shit up the back. It is the lovely situation that occurs in all babies when they manage to poop to such extremes that it explodes out the back of their diapers and completely covers their clothing. Naturally, Maya has been so kind as to SUB every day this week, at the most inconvenient times. Yesterday, it happened while we were in the emergency room (and I was so discombobulated that I had forgotten the diaper bag at home). I had to get diapers from the pediatric ER, but it was a mess...and I had no change of clothes for Maya. Even worse...she did it a second time, as I was leaving the hospital. While I was trying to convince a nurse that she was germ-free and safe to have back in the room visiting my mom. I had to take a paper towel, put it underneath her...and drive her home with a diaper oozing poop.
Of course, she decided to SUB again today...this time, I had the diaper bag, but no change of clothes. I had to creatively rinse out the poop from her outfit...and re-dress her in wet clothing. Lovely, right?
Because of this appointment, I did not get to the hospital until 1:00. The nurse did a quick interview/exam of Maya, and then gave us permission to bring Maya back to Mom's room for the day! When I arrived, there was a note from one of my mom's friend's daughter that she had been by to visit, but Mom was getting an EEG. I was able to meet with the doctor right when I arrived. He said that her MRI and CT scan both looked good, and he briefly discussed sending her back to the nursing home tomorrow. I explained to him that it would not be in our interest for her to go back to the nursing home for 24 hours, and he readily agreed. Instead, they will be keeping Mom at the hospital at least until Friday.
Our biggest concern is that they have no explanation for why Mom is experiencing headaches, nausea and vomiting all of the sudden. They tried increasing her steroids...but there have been no improvements. We had hoped her symptoms would improve with the antibiotics to treat her UTI, but so far we've not seen any improvements. They did an EEG, but we had not heard the results by the time I left today. We have one possible theory left...they put Mom on an anti-anxiety medication almost two weeks ago, and it is possible that the nausea and vomiting are just simply side effects from that medication. I am a bit nervous for them to release her home without identifying the source of her new neurological symptoms.
Lately, Maya has become the queen of SUBs...and for those of you unfamiliar with this term, it was coined by our friends, and it stands for shit up the back. It is the lovely situation that occurs in all babies when they manage to poop to such extremes that it explodes out the back of their diapers and completely covers their clothing. Naturally, Maya has been so kind as to SUB every day this week, at the most inconvenient times. Yesterday, it happened while we were in the emergency room (and I was so discombobulated that I had forgotten the diaper bag at home). I had to get diapers from the pediatric ER, but it was a mess...and I had no change of clothes for Maya. Even worse...she did it a second time, as I was leaving the hospital. While I was trying to convince a nurse that she was germ-free and safe to have back in the room visiting my mom. I had to take a paper towel, put it underneath her...and drive her home with a diaper oozing poop.
Of course, she decided to SUB again today...this time, I had the diaper bag, but no change of clothes. I had to creatively rinse out the poop from her outfit...and re-dress her in wet clothing. Lovely, right?
Tomorrow is moving day...again. I was counting earlier, and I think I've moved over 25 times since 1991. From 1991-1998, I moved at least 2 times every year...sometimes 3. In 1999, I purchased a condo, bought some heavy furniture, and "put down roots" for 3 years. Then I sold my condo and moved home for a few months while I searched for another place to buy. A few months later, I moved into a rental unit, then bought that a year later. I actually lived in that condo from 2003 until 2008. But, in 2006, we moved some of DH's things into my condo. In 2007, we moved the rest of DH's things out of his house. In 2008, we moved all of our things back into DH's house. In 2009, we moved all of our things from one storage unit to another. In 2010, we moved the rest of our things out of my condo and into the storage unit. And here we are, moving all of our things yet again in 2010. I think when we move back into our house after the renovation, I'd like to stay put for a couple of years.
I truly hate moving - it was so much easier when everything I owned was portable and could fit into a minivan. We are so completely unprepared for this move. We have so much stuff, and we have completely failed to organize and weed through it. Nothing has a place, and I'd guess we should throw out half of the things we have here. Naturally, we'll just end up moving the crap yet again.
Tonight, we also finally started packing. Actually, to be fair, we had the movers come tonight and spent a few hours packing, Megan packed up all of Micah's toys during his nap, and DH spent the afternoon working with our organizer to get his office in order for the move. I'm not sure if we really made significant progress, but we did find the keys for the house today. They were exactly where I thought they were...but hidden under something. I swear I checked underneath there about a dozen times, but I guess I must have missed them. Doesn't it always happen that way?
Tomorrow is the first day I will not see my mom since August 20. I have seen my mom every day for the past seventy-five days. I have driven to/from my mother for the past seventy-two days. It is at least 80 miles roundtrip, which means that I have driven over 5,760 miles in the past 2 1/2 months. My father has made the same trek, too, although a few days we have journeyed there and/or back together. Some days, DH has driven us. But each and every day, we've gone. But tomorrow, she will spend the day in the hospital without me there to check on her...to lay eyes on her, to knock any heads, to sort out any problems. I'm sure I'll call her a million times tomorrow to check on her...but I won't be able to see her with my own eyes. I keep trying to figure out if I can make it up there...but I know there is no possible way to move an entire house and drive there and back.
I'm definitely overwhelmed by how much stuff we still have to pack and move. It is going to require numerous trips back and forth, and I am definitely concerned about how I am going to coordinate the packing up at the house (to make sure that the right things are packed in an organized fashion) and to simultaneously coordinate the unpacking on the other end at the rental house. I am worried about getting everything moved and put away in time to give the children a normal bed time/evening, and have everything sufficiently in place for my mother for Friday. I'm so used to relying on my mother when I move...she and I have the same sensibilities about where things belong. I can trust her to pack up any room, or unpack key rooms like the kitchen, because she would set it up exactly the same way I would. There is no one else that thinks the way we do, and this is the first time I have to move without the benefit of her assistance. That alone is going to make this my most difficult move yet.
On another note, my mom has been calling here on and off since 2:00 am. The nurse on duty tonight is refusing to put her on the commode...this is so frustrating! I already called and spoke to him, and I think he is reversing his opinion. I also sent a note to the doctor and hope he will address this issue in the morning.
But beyond that, I'm a bit worried about her - she was quite strange on the phone tonight. We were talking, but there was a lot of static and noise on the phone, and her voice was very garbled and difficult to understand. The last time I had this much difficulty talking to her on the phone was this summer, before we got her diagnosis. She kept telling me that it was because her phone was in her pocket. I asked her why she was putting the phone in her pocket while we were talking, and she insisted she wasn't. She said it was there before the call, and she had forgotten to take it out. I told her that she could not have called me with the phone in her pocket, and she started to argue with me and tell me how I never believe her and how I must think she is stupid. No...I just know that in order to dial the phone, she has to take it out, press a button to activate the phone, and talk directly into the speaker. I also know that at one point during our call, she had it up to her ear, and I am concerned that she thinks it is normal to put a phone in her pocket mid-conversation. It is like she is forgetting we are on the phone and just putting it down mid-conversation. She has been doing that over the past two days, and it is striking me as another neurological symptom.
So, hopefully tomorrow things will improve with my mother. I'm definitely concerned...I know they keep telling me that everything is fine and that the tests look great...but something isn't quite right, and I'm concerned that they cannot seem to figure out what is wrong. I'm also worried that I will not be seeing her in person tomorrow, and I have to rely on my father to communicate specific information with me - not his strong point. My brother will be heading over tomorrow evening, and I think some friends will be visiting as well. My mother will be alone all morning (probably until 12 or so). I hope she gets a few visitors, and I hope that they keep their promise and get her out of bed tomorrow. We've made far too much progress in her sitting stamina for her to spend all day in bed again.
Wish us luck with things! I hope it goes smoothly, and I hope that we can have everything moved over there and unpacked in a single day. I'm so worried about getting everything ready for Mom, and I have a sneaking suspicion that the kids will be a disaster tomorrow night in the new house, so finding the time to unpack is going to be a challenge.
I truly hate moving - it was so much easier when everything I owned was portable and could fit into a minivan. We are so completely unprepared for this move. We have so much stuff, and we have completely failed to organize and weed through it. Nothing has a place, and I'd guess we should throw out half of the things we have here. Naturally, we'll just end up moving the crap yet again.
Tonight, we also finally started packing. Actually, to be fair, we had the movers come tonight and spent a few hours packing, Megan packed up all of Micah's toys during his nap, and DH spent the afternoon working with our organizer to get his office in order for the move. I'm not sure if we really made significant progress, but we did find the keys for the house today. They were exactly where I thought they were...but hidden under something. I swear I checked underneath there about a dozen times, but I guess I must have missed them. Doesn't it always happen that way?
Tomorrow is the first day I will not see my mom since August 20. I have seen my mom every day for the past seventy-five days. I have driven to/from my mother for the past seventy-two days. It is at least 80 miles roundtrip, which means that I have driven over 5,760 miles in the past 2 1/2 months. My father has made the same trek, too, although a few days we have journeyed there and/or back together. Some days, DH has driven us. But each and every day, we've gone. But tomorrow, she will spend the day in the hospital without me there to check on her...to lay eyes on her, to knock any heads, to sort out any problems. I'm sure I'll call her a million times tomorrow to check on her...but I won't be able to see her with my own eyes. I keep trying to figure out if I can make it up there...but I know there is no possible way to move an entire house and drive there and back.
I'm definitely overwhelmed by how much stuff we still have to pack and move. It is going to require numerous trips back and forth, and I am definitely concerned about how I am going to coordinate the packing up at the house (to make sure that the right things are packed in an organized fashion) and to simultaneously coordinate the unpacking on the other end at the rental house. I am worried about getting everything moved and put away in time to give the children a normal bed time/evening, and have everything sufficiently in place for my mother for Friday. I'm so used to relying on my mother when I move...she and I have the same sensibilities about where things belong. I can trust her to pack up any room, or unpack key rooms like the kitchen, because she would set it up exactly the same way I would. There is no one else that thinks the way we do, and this is the first time I have to move without the benefit of her assistance. That alone is going to make this my most difficult move yet.
On another note, my mom has been calling here on and off since 2:00 am. The nurse on duty tonight is refusing to put her on the commode...this is so frustrating! I already called and spoke to him, and I think he is reversing his opinion. I also sent a note to the doctor and hope he will address this issue in the morning.
But beyond that, I'm a bit worried about her - she was quite strange on the phone tonight. We were talking, but there was a lot of static and noise on the phone, and her voice was very garbled and difficult to understand. The last time I had this much difficulty talking to her on the phone was this summer, before we got her diagnosis. She kept telling me that it was because her phone was in her pocket. I asked her why she was putting the phone in her pocket while we were talking, and she insisted she wasn't. She said it was there before the call, and she had forgotten to take it out. I told her that she could not have called me with the phone in her pocket, and she started to argue with me and tell me how I never believe her and how I must think she is stupid. No...I just know that in order to dial the phone, she has to take it out, press a button to activate the phone, and talk directly into the speaker. I also know that at one point during our call, she had it up to her ear, and I am concerned that she thinks it is normal to put a phone in her pocket mid-conversation. It is like she is forgetting we are on the phone and just putting it down mid-conversation. She has been doing that over the past two days, and it is striking me as another neurological symptom.
So, hopefully tomorrow things will improve with my mother. I'm definitely concerned...I know they keep telling me that everything is fine and that the tests look great...but something isn't quite right, and I'm concerned that they cannot seem to figure out what is wrong. I'm also worried that I will not be seeing her in person tomorrow, and I have to rely on my father to communicate specific information with me - not his strong point. My brother will be heading over tomorrow evening, and I think some friends will be visiting as well. My mother will be alone all morning (probably until 12 or so). I hope she gets a few visitors, and I hope that they keep their promise and get her out of bed tomorrow. We've made far too much progress in her sitting stamina for her to spend all day in bed again.
Wish us luck with things! I hope it goes smoothly, and I hope that we can have everything moved over there and unpacked in a single day. I'm so worried about getting everything ready for Mom, and I have a sneaking suspicion that the kids will be a disaster tomorrow night in the new house, so finding the time to unpack is going to be a challenge.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Bump in the Road
It has been quite a day...mostly filled with a lot of tears and worry. My mom has been re-admitted to the hospital. She is okay...stable, and mostly there for observation. We think this is more of a "bump" than a setback, but it still came as a bit of a surprise.
Over the past two weeks, my Mom has been listening to Tuesdays with Morrie in audiobook format. She spends a lot of time quoting from the book, and she has repeatedly asked me to read it again. Yesterday, I started to listen to the audiobook on my drive home...but I was in tears the whole way home. I think it just hits too close to home for me right now, and I'm really not sure that I can continue to listen to it at this time. It really is a wonderful book, but I think I'm far too raw to hear this story.
As my Mom and I talk, she always brings up the book in every conversation, usually by saying "Morrie says..." and quoting from the book. We talked about how "Morrie says" that this universe is too harmonious, grand and overwhelming to be an accident. We talked about the circle of life, and a few of Morrie's theories on the birth-death balance. I told her that one of the things that touched me was the story Mitch Albom relayed about the day Morrie got his diagnosis. I don't recall the exact quote, but apparently, he looked outside, noticed the world going on around him and felt like yelling "why is the world still going on when it feels like my world just stopped?" I think that is exactly how I've felt since the day we learned my mother had a brain tumor...sometimes, I just do not understand how the world is going on around me when I feel like my world has just...stopped.
Today, Mom wanted to know if she could steal a line (with a few alterations) from him for her tombstone, or if that would be a copyright infringement. It made me laugh, but I love that the book has touched her. According to my Mom, everyone should read the book. Now that she has finished this book, I might get her Mitch Albom's book The Five People You Meet in Heaven to see if she likes that as well. I also recently added The Alchemist to the ipod, but she seems to be having trouble concentrating on that.
Last night was a rough night. The baby woke up at 5 and my mom started calling me at 6. She was dizzy and not feeling well again. I immediately contacted her oncologist to give him an update. My mom called a few more times over the next two hours, and Micah woke up early, too. I called my father around 8:30 to give him an update, and we started to speak to the doctor at the nursing home to work out the plan of action. We were working on getting the nursing home doctor to at least call the doctor to coordinate the proper tests and hear the recommended procedures.
Micah woke up early, too, and my day was off and running. My father called to say he needed to take the car to be serviced and I had to go up to the nursing home since he was going to be late. I raced around getting ready and had to send Micah to preschool with Megan instead of going with him. I got in the car, stopped to vote, and headed up with Maya to the nursing home. I was there before 11:00, and it turned out, my father was already there. I have to admit, I was a bit ticked that he didn't call me to tell me he was running ahead of schedule so I could have taken Micah to preschool and come up an hour or so later.
We spoke to the doctor, and he told us he was making arrangements for Mom to go to the hospital. SIL, Paige and Peyton came by to visit Mom, but they arrived right at the same time as transport. We made sure Mom had her lunch, the girls said a quick hello, and we all headed out.
My father, SIL and I were all a bit teary - to be frank, we were concerned that my mother was dealing with a brain bleed or significant tumor growth. My Mom was quite clear that she does not want any more surgery. Consequently, we were all worried that this might be the beginning of the end, and we kept getting all choked up. We tried to keep it in check, but not always so well. I was frustrated about what this meant for her rehab stay. I really wanted Mom to have a few more days of rehab before we brought her home. We knew that if they admitted Mom to the hospital, her time at rehab would be over. We debated packing up her things before we left so that we would not need to return later, but ultimately we decided to wait to pack her belongings.
We did have a bit of comic relief before we left...my Dad's jeans split right down his tush!! Yes, his jeans were ripped, and his underwear was hanging out for the world to see. Luckily, one of the staffers told my father, and he was able to take his jacket and tie it around his waist for the day. For the sake of my father's modesty, I will not share the color of his underwear (hey, Dad, note the spelling). We were hysterical!!
We arrived at the hospital and Mom was taken to the ER. My father and I took turns in the waiting room for a while watching Maya while the other one sat with Mom. They immediately took a CT scan, ordered a platelet transfusion, and decided to admit her. The nurse took some pity on us...and got permission for us to bring Maya back into the room with Mom. While there, she dictated an email, I read her the blog and your messages, and we had a few chats. We talked about what a great visit she had yesterday with her childhood friends, and we laughed over a blog message to Mom. It was funny to listen to them talk about the huckleberries...and boy, do I miss my Grammy's huckleberry pie! I also loved hearing all of the stories of when they lived together.
My mom and I kept reminiscing today. I have to say, I wish I had been taking notes, because we remembered a bunch of funny stories, and I remember laughing and smiling a lot while we were waiting. Perhaps my mom will be able to remind me tomorrow when I read this to her, but I think I'm just so tired that I remember the feeling, not the details. My mom also asked my Dad to bring a few of the Dr. Seuss books to the house so that she can record them for the children. As we were talking about the books, my Mom turned to me and told me that we needed to write our own Dr. Seuss book about Dad. She thought that we should use the book Green Eggs and Ham for our book, and suggested it include lines like "Dad can sleep in a house, Dad can sleep with a mouse. Dad can sleep in a boat and Dad can sleep without a coat. Dad can sleep here or there, Dad can sleep most anywhere!" We then started to substitute other words...like shop...and thought the book idea just got better and better!
Before the CT scan, they warned us that CT scans are challenging to read post-surgery and radiation. Often, they look far worse because of the swelling from radiation, and they did not want us to be upset if they told us things looked worse. Luckily, we got good news about her CT scan right away...no major brain bleeds! That was a big relief - they were concerned that was the source of Mom's problem. Even better news...Mom's "midline shift" (the portion of her right brain that is pushed into the left side of her head due to swelling) had reduced by .6 cm - fairly significant! That is really good news because they usually expect things to be worse at this point, not better.
We were there for maybe 2 hours before they transferred her to a room. She is actually now in the Weinberg building, and will remain there for a few days. Because we have run out of insurance days for rehab, Mom will not be readmitted to a rehab after this hospital visit. We asked the hospital to make sure that they can keep Mom until Friday (since we have no way to take her home prior to Friday), and they said it would not be a problem. We asked if they expected her stay to be longer than a few days, and right now they are still anticipating that she will come home on Friday. We will need to work with everyone to get her equipment ordered...we are not sure if they ordered everything at the nursing home or not, so we will need to figure that out in the morning.
Mom was in good spirits today. She really is fine, minus the occasional bouts of dizziness. There is a 1 nurse to 2 patient ratio on her floor, so we decided not to get an aide. She is in a large private room, and the nurses seemed fantastic. They were not concerned about handling any of her bathroom issues or the transfers, and they were very much on top of her medications. Mom says she feels safe there, so we were relieved.
Once we got to her room (around 5), I spent time with her nurse giving her information about Mom. She was quite kind, as was the doctor. My brother arrived around 6, and we stayed with Mom for a while longer. Dad left around 7 to drive back to the nursing home to pack up her room, and my brother and I stayed to sort out a few things at the hospital.
Mom was actually fixated about something she kept seeing outside her window - she was very insistent that she could see a bank sign with the temperature on it, and wanted to know if anyone else could see it. We all took turns, but we kept telling Mom that she was looking at some stoplights, not a bank sign. She was quite funny, though - at one point, I was trying to figure out what she was seeing, and I said "Mom, I'm looking, but I just don't see it." "Did you look to the left?" she asked. "I'm looking left...oh, you are snarky, aren't you? Very funny, Mom." Yes, it dawned on me that Mom was teasing me because we always ask her if she is looking left when she is having trouble seeing something. When I turned to look at her, she had a big grin on her face and her eyes were dancing at me.
It was 7:45 when we left to come home. It was a very long day, but I think my mom is in great hands again. I hope that things stay on track and we are able to move on Thursday and bring her home on Friday. I made a bunch of phone calls tonight to give everyone updates. Mom called a few times to tell me that she is doing well and that they already took her for her MRI. It is now 12:15, both children are asleep, and I think things are okay with Mom for right now. I hope we have an uneventful evening.
Over the past two weeks, my Mom has been listening to Tuesdays with Morrie in audiobook format. She spends a lot of time quoting from the book, and she has repeatedly asked me to read it again. Yesterday, I started to listen to the audiobook on my drive home...but I was in tears the whole way home. I think it just hits too close to home for me right now, and I'm really not sure that I can continue to listen to it at this time. It really is a wonderful book, but I think I'm far too raw to hear this story.
As my Mom and I talk, she always brings up the book in every conversation, usually by saying "Morrie says..." and quoting from the book. We talked about how "Morrie says" that this universe is too harmonious, grand and overwhelming to be an accident. We talked about the circle of life, and a few of Morrie's theories on the birth-death balance. I told her that one of the things that touched me was the story Mitch Albom relayed about the day Morrie got his diagnosis. I don't recall the exact quote, but apparently, he looked outside, noticed the world going on around him and felt like yelling "why is the world still going on when it feels like my world just stopped?" I think that is exactly how I've felt since the day we learned my mother had a brain tumor...sometimes, I just do not understand how the world is going on around me when I feel like my world has just...stopped.
Today, Mom wanted to know if she could steal a line (with a few alterations) from him for her tombstone, or if that would be a copyright infringement. It made me laugh, but I love that the book has touched her. According to my Mom, everyone should read the book. Now that she has finished this book, I might get her Mitch Albom's book The Five People You Meet in Heaven to see if she likes that as well. I also recently added The Alchemist to the ipod, but she seems to be having trouble concentrating on that.
Last night was a rough night. The baby woke up at 5 and my mom started calling me at 6. She was dizzy and not feeling well again. I immediately contacted her oncologist to give him an update. My mom called a few more times over the next two hours, and Micah woke up early, too. I called my father around 8:30 to give him an update, and we started to speak to the doctor at the nursing home to work out the plan of action. We were working on getting the nursing home doctor to at least call the doctor to coordinate the proper tests and hear the recommended procedures.
Micah woke up early, too, and my day was off and running. My father called to say he needed to take the car to be serviced and I had to go up to the nursing home since he was going to be late. I raced around getting ready and had to send Micah to preschool with Megan instead of going with him. I got in the car, stopped to vote, and headed up with Maya to the nursing home. I was there before 11:00, and it turned out, my father was already there. I have to admit, I was a bit ticked that he didn't call me to tell me he was running ahead of schedule so I could have taken Micah to preschool and come up an hour or so later.
We spoke to the doctor, and he told us he was making arrangements for Mom to go to the hospital. SIL, Paige and Peyton came by to visit Mom, but they arrived right at the same time as transport. We made sure Mom had her lunch, the girls said a quick hello, and we all headed out.
My father, SIL and I were all a bit teary - to be frank, we were concerned that my mother was dealing with a brain bleed or significant tumor growth. My Mom was quite clear that she does not want any more surgery. Consequently, we were all worried that this might be the beginning of the end, and we kept getting all choked up. We tried to keep it in check, but not always so well. I was frustrated about what this meant for her rehab stay. I really wanted Mom to have a few more days of rehab before we brought her home. We knew that if they admitted Mom to the hospital, her time at rehab would be over. We debated packing up her things before we left so that we would not need to return later, but ultimately we decided to wait to pack her belongings.
We did have a bit of comic relief before we left...my Dad's jeans split right down his tush!! Yes, his jeans were ripped, and his underwear was hanging out for the world to see. Luckily, one of the staffers told my father, and he was able to take his jacket and tie it around his waist for the day. For the sake of my father's modesty, I will not share the color of his underwear (hey, Dad, note the spelling). We were hysterical!!
We arrived at the hospital and Mom was taken to the ER. My father and I took turns in the waiting room for a while watching Maya while the other one sat with Mom. They immediately took a CT scan, ordered a platelet transfusion, and decided to admit her. The nurse took some pity on us...and got permission for us to bring Maya back into the room with Mom. While there, she dictated an email, I read her the blog and your messages, and we had a few chats. We talked about what a great visit she had yesterday with her childhood friends, and we laughed over a blog message to Mom. It was funny to listen to them talk about the huckleberries...and boy, do I miss my Grammy's huckleberry pie! I also loved hearing all of the stories of when they lived together.
My mom and I kept reminiscing today. I have to say, I wish I had been taking notes, because we remembered a bunch of funny stories, and I remember laughing and smiling a lot while we were waiting. Perhaps my mom will be able to remind me tomorrow when I read this to her, but I think I'm just so tired that I remember the feeling, not the details. My mom also asked my Dad to bring a few of the Dr. Seuss books to the house so that she can record them for the children. As we were talking about the books, my Mom turned to me and told me that we needed to write our own Dr. Seuss book about Dad. She thought that we should use the book Green Eggs and Ham for our book, and suggested it include lines like "Dad can sleep in a house, Dad can sleep with a mouse. Dad can sleep in a boat and Dad can sleep without a coat. Dad can sleep here or there, Dad can sleep most anywhere!" We then started to substitute other words...like shop...and thought the book idea just got better and better!
Before the CT scan, they warned us that CT scans are challenging to read post-surgery and radiation. Often, they look far worse because of the swelling from radiation, and they did not want us to be upset if they told us things looked worse. Luckily, we got good news about her CT scan right away...no major brain bleeds! That was a big relief - they were concerned that was the source of Mom's problem. Even better news...Mom's "midline shift" (the portion of her right brain that is pushed into the left side of her head due to swelling) had reduced by .6 cm - fairly significant! That is really good news because they usually expect things to be worse at this point, not better.
We were there for maybe 2 hours before they transferred her to a room. She is actually now in the Weinberg building, and will remain there for a few days. Because we have run out of insurance days for rehab, Mom will not be readmitted to a rehab after this hospital visit. We asked the hospital to make sure that they can keep Mom until Friday (since we have no way to take her home prior to Friday), and they said it would not be a problem. We asked if they expected her stay to be longer than a few days, and right now they are still anticipating that she will come home on Friday. We will need to work with everyone to get her equipment ordered...we are not sure if they ordered everything at the nursing home or not, so we will need to figure that out in the morning.
Mom was in good spirits today. She really is fine, minus the occasional bouts of dizziness. There is a 1 nurse to 2 patient ratio on her floor, so we decided not to get an aide. She is in a large private room, and the nurses seemed fantastic. They were not concerned about handling any of her bathroom issues or the transfers, and they were very much on top of her medications. Mom says she feels safe there, so we were relieved.
Once we got to her room (around 5), I spent time with her nurse giving her information about Mom. She was quite kind, as was the doctor. My brother arrived around 6, and we stayed with Mom for a while longer. Dad left around 7 to drive back to the nursing home to pack up her room, and my brother and I stayed to sort out a few things at the hospital.
Mom was actually fixated about something she kept seeing outside her window - she was very insistent that she could see a bank sign with the temperature on it, and wanted to know if anyone else could see it. We all took turns, but we kept telling Mom that she was looking at some stoplights, not a bank sign. She was quite funny, though - at one point, I was trying to figure out what she was seeing, and I said "Mom, I'm looking, but I just don't see it." "Did you look to the left?" she asked. "I'm looking left...oh, you are snarky, aren't you? Very funny, Mom." Yes, it dawned on me that Mom was teasing me because we always ask her if she is looking left when she is having trouble seeing something. When I turned to look at her, she had a big grin on her face and her eyes were dancing at me.
It was 7:45 when we left to come home. It was a very long day, but I think my mom is in great hands again. I hope that things stay on track and we are able to move on Thursday and bring her home on Friday. I made a bunch of phone calls tonight to give everyone updates. Mom called a few times to tell me that she is doing well and that they already took her for her MRI. It is now 12:15, both children are asleep, and I think things are okay with Mom for right now. I hope we have an uneventful evening.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Date Night
More craziness here! I'm going to try to keep it short, mostly because it is 6:00 am and the baby has been up on and off all night, and I have no idea how long I have before she wakes again.
The kids woke up at their usual time. While Megan took Micah to his class, I went with DH and Maya to meet my father at the rental house. We needed to take some measurements and make note of some things around the house to plan for the move. While we were there, Mom called us to say that she had thrown up again. Naturally, I was concerned, and I told Mom I'd call the medical oncologist.
We got the necessary measurements...but I noticed a small problem. Spiders. LOTS of spiders. EVERYWHERE. I'm very allergic to spider bites (as is Micah), so the spider problem definitely did not sit well with me. Luckily, one of my parents' neighbors is a pest control specialist...I grew up with his younger sister, and we've known them for many years. I called him, and he'll be by to take care of those spiders in time for our move.
After our home inspection, I dropped DH off and headed up to the nursing home. When I arrived, my mom's childhood friends were already there, visiting my mother. She was looking great - definitely in good spirits, and no signs of any nausea. We sat and talked with our company for a bit, and then my father arrived. A little while later, everyone had to leave us, so we returned Mom to her room for lunch. Once again, Mom wasn't feeling very well. I sent an email to her oncologist, and luckily he called me back a few minutes later. He was concerned about the nausea, but said it was not presenting as a neurological issue. He did say he wanted to get another MRI if it continued.
Later that afternoon, Mom informed me that she was dizzy when she leaned her head back, and that was causing the nausea. I sent a follow-up note to the oncologist, and we told the doctor at the nursing home. He informed us that Mom has a UTI, but he was concerned about the dizziness. I think he is requesting a scan for her in the morning...but I'm concerned that he isn't going to understand what he is looking at with her brain cancer. He said he wanted to know if there is a "midline shift" - uh, yeah, that is definitely what he'll find, since she has had a "midline shift" since the initially diagnosis and admittance back in August. In fact, it had gotten much worse, and we were told we were unlikely to see signs of improvement for a few months because of the radiation swelling. I also think that a regular CT scan is pointless - he would need to order a CT scan with contrast to see anything useful at this point because of the cancer/surgery/radiation. I sent another note to her oncologist asking if he wants to recommend a particular type of scan that could be done, but we'll see.
The rest of the afternoon was uneventful. We stayed with Mom and she was feeling fine. At 2:00 she went downstairs to finish her therapy. I did our daily facial cleaning and lotioning routine, and Mom told me that she thinks everyone tells her she looks so good because her skin is in good shape now. It made me smile, knowing that she thinks our ritual is helping her.
I left around 4:30 with Dad. On our way out, we ran into three friends, who were on their way in to visit Mom. I was glad that Mom would be having more company today. I made it home around 5:30 to spend time with Micah. DH and I had a surprise for tonight...we were going out to dinner and a massage! My friends decided to come over and babysit the kids to give us some time out. Unfortunately, DH never made the appointments for the massages, so massage and dinner became just dinner.
We went to a new place. It was very good, and kind of interesting. It was Italian food (pasta, salads, paninis, pizza), but it was based on the German market concept. There are tables all over, and there are food stations. You have to order food from each of the stations, and they stamp your card for every thing you order. When you are all finished eating, you just pay the bill.
The food was delicious...but we had a terrible time. The phones were ringing off the hook - I was talking to the mover and to the pest control specialist and to the organizer. I realized that DH had not made a number of the arrangements for the house that I had asked him to take care of, so we were fighting tonight. We are both so overwhelmed by everything we have to do in the next few days and just cannot seem to figure out where to begin. The house is a mess, I'm only home a few hours a day, and we are both pretty stressed about making the move happen. We are hoping that between the organizer and the mover coming the next few days, they can just figure it out and make it happen. If not...I guess all we really need moved is the furniture, our clothing, the kids toys, and the other big things. We can always finish moving the smaller stuff later.
Our first night out in over 4 months, and all we could do was fight. We are both under a lot of stress from everything going on, but I get so frustrated that he delays making appointments for important things, and then he seems surprised that they do not hold time in their schedules for him. I was so angry about everything...the move, the fighting, the canceled massages...that I left the restaurant early and went home. It was 8:45, and I could just tell that the kids were a mess and needed me to get back. I arrived home at 9:00, and walked into the house to find Maya screaming her head off and Micah wide awake and watching tv.
Apparently, Micah was GREAT when we left - no crying or anything. After playing for a bit, he went up to bed, he brushed his teeth and took his medicine, he got into his pajamas...but he wouldn't let them read him a book or put him in the crib. He started to call for his Daddy instead. When the crying started, they brought him back downstairs for a little Word World.
Maya, however, melted down shortly after we left. Poor Maya just did not want to stop crying. She was tired, cranky, and all she wanted was me. Well, to be more precise, all she wanted was to nurse. She was not interested in the bottle or anyone else for that matter. When I walked through the door, I realized that Micah was just fine, so I quickly swaddled Maya up tight and nursed her to sleep. Micah sat next to me and cuddled close while I put Maya to sleep. She was so worked up that she did that temper-tantrum snivel/hiccup in her sleep!
DH arrived home a little while later and put Micah to sleep. Mom called in the middle of all of this to say she was awake, feeling fine, and just waiting for her pills. She said she was nervous that she might throw up again. I told her to call if there were any issues, and I haven't heard from her all night.
My friends left to get home to their dog. They were so kind to come and babysit...but sometimes I feel like taking time off is worse than just doing it myself. I spent the time away stressed about everything going on and wondering how much the children were melting down. I came home to a very upset baby and a wide-awake toddler, and trying to get them to sleep was harder. We are definitely going to need to work on having other people put Maya to bed so that nights out are easier.
At four months with Micah, he was regularly taking bottles and his Grammy put him to sleep at least 1 night every week. Because of Maya's resistance to the bottle and everything else going on, I've been putting her to sleep myself every night, so she really doesn't do well with anyone else yet.
Maya was very uncooperative even after they left - she stayed awake until after 11:00 pm (mostly smiling at me and laughing at the fact that she wouldn't fall asleep). DH and I tried to talk through things...but we were both upset and kept waking Maya, so we tabled our discussion. I finally got Maya to fall asleep, and then I crashed. DH took Maya upstairs around 1:00 or so and he crashed.
Unfortunately, Maya woke up again at 5:00, and it took me another hour to get her back to sleep. Rough night here. I really hope that she stays asleep for a few more hours. I'm going to try and get some sleep - we have another long day ahead.
Three more days until Mom comes home.
The kids woke up at their usual time. While Megan took Micah to his class, I went with DH and Maya to meet my father at the rental house. We needed to take some measurements and make note of some things around the house to plan for the move. While we were there, Mom called us to say that she had thrown up again. Naturally, I was concerned, and I told Mom I'd call the medical oncologist.
We got the necessary measurements...but I noticed a small problem. Spiders. LOTS of spiders. EVERYWHERE. I'm very allergic to spider bites (as is Micah), so the spider problem definitely did not sit well with me. Luckily, one of my parents' neighbors is a pest control specialist...I grew up with his younger sister, and we've known them for many years. I called him, and he'll be by to take care of those spiders in time for our move.
After our home inspection, I dropped DH off and headed up to the nursing home. When I arrived, my mom's childhood friends were already there, visiting my mother. She was looking great - definitely in good spirits, and no signs of any nausea. We sat and talked with our company for a bit, and then my father arrived. A little while later, everyone had to leave us, so we returned Mom to her room for lunch. Once again, Mom wasn't feeling very well. I sent an email to her oncologist, and luckily he called me back a few minutes later. He was concerned about the nausea, but said it was not presenting as a neurological issue. He did say he wanted to get another MRI if it continued.
Later that afternoon, Mom informed me that she was dizzy when she leaned her head back, and that was causing the nausea. I sent a follow-up note to the oncologist, and we told the doctor at the nursing home. He informed us that Mom has a UTI, but he was concerned about the dizziness. I think he is requesting a scan for her in the morning...but I'm concerned that he isn't going to understand what he is looking at with her brain cancer. He said he wanted to know if there is a "midline shift" - uh, yeah, that is definitely what he'll find, since she has had a "midline shift" since the initially diagnosis and admittance back in August. In fact, it had gotten much worse, and we were told we were unlikely to see signs of improvement for a few months because of the radiation swelling. I also think that a regular CT scan is pointless - he would need to order a CT scan with contrast to see anything useful at this point because of the cancer/surgery/radiation. I sent another note to her oncologist asking if he wants to recommend a particular type of scan that could be done, but we'll see.
The rest of the afternoon was uneventful. We stayed with Mom and she was feeling fine. At 2:00 she went downstairs to finish her therapy. I did our daily facial cleaning and lotioning routine, and Mom told me that she thinks everyone tells her she looks so good because her skin is in good shape now. It made me smile, knowing that she thinks our ritual is helping her.
I left around 4:30 with Dad. On our way out, we ran into three friends, who were on their way in to visit Mom. I was glad that Mom would be having more company today. I made it home around 5:30 to spend time with Micah. DH and I had a surprise for tonight...we were going out to dinner and a massage! My friends decided to come over and babysit the kids to give us some time out. Unfortunately, DH never made the appointments for the massages, so massage and dinner became just dinner.
We went to a new place. It was very good, and kind of interesting. It was Italian food (pasta, salads, paninis, pizza), but it was based on the German market concept. There are tables all over, and there are food stations. You have to order food from each of the stations, and they stamp your card for every thing you order. When you are all finished eating, you just pay the bill.
The food was delicious...but we had a terrible time. The phones were ringing off the hook - I was talking to the mover and to the pest control specialist and to the organizer. I realized that DH had not made a number of the arrangements for the house that I had asked him to take care of, so we were fighting tonight. We are both so overwhelmed by everything we have to do in the next few days and just cannot seem to figure out where to begin. The house is a mess, I'm only home a few hours a day, and we are both pretty stressed about making the move happen. We are hoping that between the organizer and the mover coming the next few days, they can just figure it out and make it happen. If not...I guess all we really need moved is the furniture, our clothing, the kids toys, and the other big things. We can always finish moving the smaller stuff later.
Our first night out in over 4 months, and all we could do was fight. We are both under a lot of stress from everything going on, but I get so frustrated that he delays making appointments for important things, and then he seems surprised that they do not hold time in their schedules for him. I was so angry about everything...the move, the fighting, the canceled massages...that I left the restaurant early and went home. It was 8:45, and I could just tell that the kids were a mess and needed me to get back. I arrived home at 9:00, and walked into the house to find Maya screaming her head off and Micah wide awake and watching tv.
Apparently, Micah was GREAT when we left - no crying or anything. After playing for a bit, he went up to bed, he brushed his teeth and took his medicine, he got into his pajamas...but he wouldn't let them read him a book or put him in the crib. He started to call for his Daddy instead. When the crying started, they brought him back downstairs for a little Word World.
Maya, however, melted down shortly after we left. Poor Maya just did not want to stop crying. She was tired, cranky, and all she wanted was me. Well, to be more precise, all she wanted was to nurse. She was not interested in the bottle or anyone else for that matter. When I walked through the door, I realized that Micah was just fine, so I quickly swaddled Maya up tight and nursed her to sleep. Micah sat next to me and cuddled close while I put Maya to sleep. She was so worked up that she did that temper-tantrum snivel/hiccup in her sleep!
DH arrived home a little while later and put Micah to sleep. Mom called in the middle of all of this to say she was awake, feeling fine, and just waiting for her pills. She said she was nervous that she might throw up again. I told her to call if there were any issues, and I haven't heard from her all night.
My friends left to get home to their dog. They were so kind to come and babysit...but sometimes I feel like taking time off is worse than just doing it myself. I spent the time away stressed about everything going on and wondering how much the children were melting down. I came home to a very upset baby and a wide-awake toddler, and trying to get them to sleep was harder. We are definitely going to need to work on having other people put Maya to bed so that nights out are easier.
At four months with Micah, he was regularly taking bottles and his Grammy put him to sleep at least 1 night every week. Because of Maya's resistance to the bottle and everything else going on, I've been putting her to sleep myself every night, so she really doesn't do well with anyone else yet.
Maya was very uncooperative even after they left - she stayed awake until after 11:00 pm (mostly smiling at me and laughing at the fact that she wouldn't fall asleep). DH and I tried to talk through things...but we were both upset and kept waking Maya, so we tabled our discussion. I finally got Maya to fall asleep, and then I crashed. DH took Maya upstairs around 1:00 or so and he crashed.
Unfortunately, Maya woke up again at 5:00, and it took me another hour to get her back to sleep. Rough night here. I really hope that she stays asleep for a few more hours. I'm going to try and get some sleep - we have another long day ahead.
Three more days until Mom comes home.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Happy Halloween
I love Halloween! I love the costumes, and parties, and trick-or-treating, and I just love how everyone smiles at cute little kids all dressed up and excited. As a child, I remember getting our costumes ready every year. My mom always had dad remove the screen from the top half of the screen door. She would lock the screen door, and stand there and hand out candy to the kids through the empty screen door portion. I think she did it that way to keep the dog inside, but I often remember her hanging out at the door all night, chatting with the parents and passing out candy.
Pumpkin carving was also a big deal at our house. Actually, the trip tot he pumpkin patch was the bigger deal. Every year, Mom, Dad, my brother and I would drive out to a local orchard. I remember how far out it seemed then - the roads were bumpy and gravelly, and I remember my brother and I bouncing around all over the way back of the wagon on our way out to the farm. We would take a hayride out to the pumpkin patch and pick our own pumpkin (they've now turned it into a full festival with a petting zoo, face painting, rides, and more). I also remember that my mom had to institute a rule...we could pick any pumpkin we wanted, but we had to be able to carry it back. That rule was for my brother - he liked these enormous pumpkins, and my mom didn't want to be stuck carrying or paying for a 50 lb pumpkin.
My brother always grabbed the biggest pumpkin he could find. I liked to find the perfect shape, with few markings on the outside. I liked the perfect pumpkins...clean, rounded, slightly elongated. I would imagine a nice cheery jack-o-lantern face on it, and tried to find the happy pumpkins.
My father would have us draw our jack-o-lantern faces on a sheet of paper (and in later years directly on the pumpkin). He would open up the tops, and Mom would scrape out the insides and collect the seeds. I'd watch her stand there for hours as she emptied out the seeds, then sorted through the muck to pull out all the seeds. She would spread the soaking wet seeds across the counter top on paper towels to let them dry. Once dried, she would transfer them to a cookie sheet and bake them up in the oven - lightly salting them afterwards. We'd spend the next day or two munching on pumpkin seeds.
While Mom dealt with the pumpkin seeds, Dad would carve our pumpkins. He was very precise. He always got my brother's mean pumpkin face *just* right, and he'd make a lovely happy face for me. He'd carefully transfer our designs onto our pumpkins, put a candle inside, and display the pumpkins for the world to see. I loved those times - I really only remember a lot of happiness.
Halloween was often cold here. We'd buy our costumes, and we never knew if we would need to layer heavy sweaters and jeans underneath. Some years, Mom would suggest we would dress up in something easy, like a bum (flannel shirt, ripped jeans, hobo sack, and she'd burn a cork and rub the black on our faces). As children, I remember my brother always going as a super hero. I know I went as Wonder Woman a few times, and Raggedy Ann, too. I also remember my brother's best friend being afraid of masks...she'd come over, see us put on our costumes...and start screaming. We'd take off our masks, show her it was us, and she'd smile and say "I know." But, masks on again...not so happy. I'm still not sure how her mother managed to get her trick or treating - my brother might have had to take off the mask! I do remember one year dressing as a witch (well, several years) and at least one of the years I was on crutches. I remember Dad decorating my crutches to look like broomsticks. It was a cold winter...mom had dressed me in jeans and a navy blue turtle neck and sweater to wear under my cape. As I hobbled around on the crutches, the nose started to fall off...then the hat...then I tripped over the cape. One by one, I removed the items and handed them to Dad. By the end, I was just in my sweater, and everyone thought I had dressed as an invalid for Halloween.
This year, I had planned to take the kids (well, Micah) to the pumpkin patch for his hayride and pumpkin experience. With everything going on, we never made it there. Instead, DH just picked two pumpkins up at the store. I was kind of sad looking at them - pumpkins should come from the orchard, not the grocery store. I noticed that the pumpkins had no stems...Mom NEVER would have let us get a pumpkin without a long stem - too hard to get the top off!
I did, however, get the costume thing right. We dressed Micah up in an adorable fuzzy Elmo costume - he LOVED it. We also had a pumpkin outfit to put on Maya. I was a little sad that Mom wasn't getting to enjoy Halloween with us...so I decided to bring a little Halloween to Mom.
Last night was a really rough night for us...Micah wouldn't go back to sleep when he woke up at 2:30. He was intermittently crying or clinging for the rest of the night. At 4:00 am, his cries managed to wake the baby, too, and I was NOT a happy camper. At 5:00, I brought both children into bed, turned on Sesame Street, and nursed Maya to sleep. At 6:00 am, I took Micah back to this room and he went right to sleep. Maya was easily transferred to the crib. Maya woke up again at 8, but Micah slept until 10:30. We got up, fed Micah, and got both children ready for Halloween.
We arrived at the nursing home around 12:30. We showed Mom the kids in costume and took photos.
Dad was unabe to come today - he had a show for his stationery business, and was there all afternoon. On our way out, Mom had requested a burger for dinner. We decided that DH would run out later and get her one.
We sat with Mom and the kids for a few hours, and around 2:00, two of my mom's friends arrived - with another corned beef sandwich and some cookies for Mom. We had a wonderful visit with them in the lobby area. We all chatted, Micah ran around in his costume - it was a good day.
I took Mom back to the room to do our cleaning and lotioning ritual while DH ran out to the restaurant to get Mom a hamburger. Mom's friend spent some time chasing Micah and watching the baby...it gave me a chance to sit with Mom alone for a few minutes.
I had hoped to leave by 3:00, but naturally it was almost 3:45 before we got in the car. On our way out, we ran into two other friends, who were just arriving for a visit on their way back from a weekend trip. I actually didn't get to speak to my mom last night, so I have no idea about their visit. I know that she was also expecting a few more friends.
We raced back at 3:45 to get the kids ready for trick-or-treating. We tried to feed Micah dinner (I don't think that child ate anything yesterday), and we put Maya back in the pumpkin costume. Dad came over to see the kids all dressed up and join us.
I had hoped to leave by 3:00, but naturally it was almost 3:45 before we got in the car. On our way out, we ran into two other friends, who were just arriving for a visit on their way back from a weekend trip. I actually didn't get to speak to my mom last night, so I have no idea about their visit. I know that she was also expecting a few more friends.
We raced back at 3:45 to get the kids ready for trick-or-treating. We tried to feed Micah dinner (I don't think that child ate anything yesterday), and we put Maya back in the pumpkin costume. Dad came over to see the kids all dressed up and join us.
I don't think Micah fully grasped the concept of Halloween. We went to a party, and he did not seem to really notice the costumes. He did, however, notice the slide. He ran around the yard and played on the slide, and generally had a good time.
We left to start trick or treating just before 6. Getting Micah to walk up to doors and say "trick or treat" was a challenge. He did love grabbing the candy and dumping it in his bag. Unfortunately, he cried every time we left a house.
By the time we hit the 8th house, I'd had enough. Dad had taken Maya back already and was standing there handing out candy when I arrived back home, so I joined him. DH continued on for another hour and a half with Micah, but eventually transferred him to a stroller.
Dad left around 7:30 and headed home. The kids played a bit longer. We had to fight Micah to take off his Elmo costume, but they had a great time. Dad said he spoke to Mom, and that she was thrilled to see the kids in their costumes. All-in-all, a great evening. So far, both kids have been asleep all night. Maya was a bit of a challenge to get to sleep, but she finally crashed around 10.
We bring Mom home in four more days!
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